Diabetes during Pregnancy Increases Risk of Heart Diseases: Study

Women who develop diabetes during pregnancy are at risk of getting heart diseases in middle age, according to a study.

Gestational diabetes is a condition that develops during pregnancy and ceases after delivery and is known to increase risks for type 2 diabetes in women during later years.

Experts from Kaiser Permanente Northern California in Oakland, studied 898 women who had one or more births for almost twenty years to analyze the risks of heart diseases during pregnancy. The participants were aged between 18 and 30 years and did not have any heart conditions before. They underwent regular test for diabetes and metabolic conditions before and after pregnancy. Nearly, 13 percent of these women developed gestational diabetes.

After 12 years, researchers used ultrasound scans to measure any increase in thickness or plaque build-up in artery walls that causes atherosclerosis, heart diseases and strokes.

It was found that women who had diabetes during pregnancy were more likely to develop type- 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome in middle age. While, participants with gestational diabetes, who did not develop diabetes and metabolic syndrome during the study period, were reported to have an increase in thickness of carotid artery by 0.023 millimeters.   

At the end of the research, a total of 13 women had cardiovascular events and one of them had gestational diabetes.

Erica P. Gunderson, study author and senior research scientist in Kaiser Permanente said in a press release, "Our research shows that just having a history of gestational diabetes elevates a woman's risk of developing early atherosclerosis before she develops type 2 diabetes or metabolic syndrome. Pregnancy has been under-recognized as an important time period that can signal a woman's greater risk for future heart disease. This signal is revealed by gestational diabetes."

The authors believe that reproductive factors play an important role in causing diseases in women. Gunderson said, "It's a shift in thinking about how to identify a subgroup at risk for atherosclerosis early. The concept that reproductive complications unmask future disease risk is a more recent focus. It may inform early prevention efforts."

The research is available in the journal of American Heart Association.