![\"American](\"http:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/American-Heart-Association-new-logo-480x230.jpg\" "\\"American"){kind=logo}
Dallas, TX<\/strong> – Women pregnant with smaller-than-average fetuses may also need to worry about their long-term cardiovascular health risks, according to new research in the American Heart Association\u2019s journal Hypertension.<\/p>\nWomen diagnosed with fetal growth restriction (FGR) may also have an asymptomatic diastolic dysfunction in which the heart doesn\u2019t work at peak efficiency during its relaxation phase.FGR is an abnormality of pregnancy in which the fetus doesn\u2019t grow as well as 90 percent of other fetuses. It can compromise the health of the infant, cause fetal distress and the need for early delivery.<\/p>\n
\u201cWomen whose pregnancies are affected by FGR are known to have high risk of cardiovascular disease and death in the decades to come,\u201d said Basky Thilaganathan, M.D., Ph.D., lead author of the study and Director of the Fetal Maternal Medicine Unit at St. George\u2019s University of London. \u201cOur findings help clarify how this risk develops so these women can be identified and receive preventative treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n
People with impaired left ventricle diastolic function have a high long-term risk of heart failure, researchers said.<\/p>\n
\u201cClinicians should be aware of the maternal susceptibility to heart strain and failure in these pregnancies,\u201d Thilaganathan said. \u201cLifestyle changes and medical interventions earlier in life could help these women reduce their risk of future cardiovascular disease and death.\u201d<\/p>\n
Women with FGR pregnancies also had a significantly higher body mass index (BMI) on average than the other study groups, researchers said. Greater BMI may be one of the causes of diastolic dysfunction. But the study design didn\u2019t allow researchers to analyze cause and effect because women were recruited into the study at diagnosis of the disorder.<\/p>\n
Previous research has established that pregnancy-induced high blood pressure or preeclampsia has long-term heart risks to the mother. FGR occurs without causing high blood pressure in the mother but has similar potential heart complications for the mother.<\/p>\n
Pregnant women were recruited from St. George\u2019s Hospital in London starting in 2008. Twenty-nine women with FGR, 25 women with preeclampsia and FGR and 58 women with normal pregnancies were compared.<\/p>\n
The women had echocardiograms (ultrasound movie of the inside of the heart) and electrocardiograms (measures the electrical activity of the heartbeat), blood pressure readings, and other studies to measure heart function. These studies were done upon diagnosis of the FGR or pre-eclampsia, and at 12 weeks after delivery.<\/p>\n
While FGR has many potential causes, researchers looked at women without pre-existing illnesses and fetuses without any known physical or genetic abnormalities.<\/p>\n
Researchers said further studies are needed on cardiac dysfunction in these women after childbirth.<\/p>\n
Co-authors are Karen Melchiorre, M.D., Ph.D.; George Ross Sutherland, M.D., Ph.D.; and Marco Liberati, M.D., Ph.D. Author disclosures are on the manuscript.<\/p>\n
The University of Chieti in Italy funded the study.<\/p>\n
Visit the American Heart Association\u2019s website for information on pregnancy and high blood pressure<\/a> and a blood pressure risk calculator tool<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" High body mass index may contribute to heart function abnormalities in these pregnancies. Dallas, TX – Women pregnant with smaller-than-average fetuses may also need to worry about their long-term cardiovascular health risks, according to new research in the American Heart Association\u2019s journal Hypertension. Women diagnosed with fetal growth restriction (FGR) may also have an asymptomatic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[2538,2515,5164,5163,3396,2554,4030,6757,4693,6928,6927,4560,5063,215,2558,3012,2829],"class_list":["post-5680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","tag-american-heart-association","tag-blood-pressure","tag-bmi","tag-body-mass-index","tag-cardiovascular","tag-cardiovascular-disease","tag-dallas-tx","tag-echocardiogram","tag-electrocardiogram","tag-fetal-growth-restriction","tag-fetuse","tag-heart","tag-heart-failure","tag-high-blood-pressure","tag-hypertension","tag-infant","tag-pregnant"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5680"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5682,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5680\/revisions\/5682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}