NEW YORK - Many decades after giving birth to a preterm infant, women
appear to be at increased risk of cardiovascular disease, researchers found.
In the current issue of the journal Epidemiology, Dr. Janet M. Catov of the
University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and colleagues note that there is
evidence of such an association and they sought to determine whether it held
over the long haul.
The team examined data on 446 women with a mean age of 80 years, who were taking
part in an aging and health study. Six percent reported that they had given
birth to a preterm infant an average of some 57 years earlier, 9 percent had had
a term infant weighing less than 2500 grams, and 4 percent had had an infant
that was both preterm and of low birth weight.
After adjustment for factors including use of heart-protecting statin drugs and
age, women who had had a preterm infant were more than twice as likely to have
cardiovascular disease as women who had not.
Women who delivered infants that were both preterm and of low birth weight had a
greater than threefold higher odds of having cardiovascular disease.
"Our research raises the possibility that women with preterm birth may be at
increased risk for cardiovascular disease later in life," Catov told Reuters
Health.
"Although more work is needed to understand the mechanisms that may relate these
conditions," she concluded, "preterm birth may mark women who could benefit from
early screening and lifestyle changes to improve their cardiovascular health."
SOURCE: Epidemiology, November 2007.
