Miscarriage or natural abortion is defined as the loss of a pregnancy of less than 20 weeks gestation due to causes not intentionally provoked. If spontaneous abortions are repeated in women, they could be an indicator of poor cardiovascular health.
According to a recent study, this circumstance multiplies by five the chances of suffering a myocardial infarction, in the case of more than three natural abortions. The data shows that, although to a lesser extent, having also given birth to a lifeless baby could increase the chances of suffering from a coronary problem throughout life.
The authors, led by Elham Kharazmi, of the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg (Germany), point out that both problems are specific predictors of myocardial infarction, so they should be considered as significant indicators to carry out preventive measures.
The study data
This team monitored more than 11,500 women for approximately ten years who had previously participated in a complete European study on the impact of diet and lifestyle on the development of diseases, mainly cancer.
Through several questionnaires, the scientists analyzed, among other questions, if the participants had suffered an abortion, if they had given birth to a lifeless baby, or if they had voluntarily interrupted their pregnancies. In addition, using medical data, they also checked if they had suffered any cardiovascular problems during the follow-up.
Of the 2846 women who had suffered spontaneous abortions (24%), a total of 69 had suffered this circumstance repeatedly. Another 18% of the sample had intentionally aborted, while 2% had given birth to a dead child.
More than three miscarriages
During the supervised 10 years, 82 women suffered a heart attack and 112 suffered a stroke. When crossing the available data, the researchers verified that a history of recurrent abortions (more than three) was associated with a much higher risk of having a myocardial infarction.
According to their results, having lost a baby also increased the chances of developing a heart problem, although to a lesser extent. In contrast, none of these problems was associated with a greater chance of having a stroke. On the other hand, having voluntarily interrupted pregnancy was not related to an increased cardiovascular risk of any kind.
The study is entitled "Pregnancy loss and risk of cardiovascular disease: a prospective population-based cohort study" and is published in the cardiovascular health journal "Heart".
As it happens on many occasions, we are left with the doubt of why this association is due, so that we will have to wait for new studies to advance in the subject.
Until the underlying factors that are behind this relationship are determined, we are left with the fact that having more than three spontaneous abortions has been linked to an increased cardiovascular risk and perhaps review or forecast measures should be taken in these women who, apart from going through such a trance, could see their health in danger in this regard.
