Multiple pregnancies can reduce CVD risk

Older women who had multiple pregnancies in their youth have decreased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), new research has claimed.

In a long term study of CVD risk factors, scientists found that pregnancy can reduce a woman's chance of experiencing CVD later in life.

Amy Thompson, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, stated: "We know that cardiovascular disease kills as many women as it does men, but they are affected in different ways.

"Researchers found that women who had had four or more pregnancies had a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease."

Pregnancy, while seemingly offering a protection against CVD in later life, can also awaken pre-existing heart disease that lay dormant previously.

In Europe, maternal heart disease has become one of the leading causes of death during childbirth and appears to show no sign of decline, as the average age of childbirth increases.

Giving birth at an older age has previously been associated with diabetes, hypertension and obesity.

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