Non-Hispanic Black individuals have a significantly higher rate of pre-term births than non-Hispanic white individuals. Premature babies have a higher risk for cardiovascular disease and affects neurodevelopment. This is the first study that explains which maternal health factors (obesity, diabetes, hypertension) and socioeconomic factors (insurance, prenatal care, education) can be targeted to improve birth outcomes.
Non-Hispanic Black individuals have a significantly higher rate of pre-term births than non-Hispanic white individuals, reports a new Northwestern Medicine study.
Pregnancy complications among individuals between the ages of 15 and 44 are increasing dramatically, a new Northwestern Medicine study has found. The rate of high blood pressure-related disorders among pregnant individuals more than doubled over a recent 12-year period.
E-Mail
CHICAGO - A woman s heart health before she becomes pregnant is strongly related to her likelihood of experiencing a complication during her pregnancy or labor, reports a new Northwestern Medicine study.
The study examined the presence of four cardiovascular risk factors in women before they became pregnant: smoking, unhealthy body weight, hypertension and diabetes. With the presence of each additional risk factor, the likelihood that the woman would experience an adverse pregnancy outcome got increasingly higher. Those adverse outcomes include maternal intensive care unit (ICU) admission, preterm birth, low birthweight and fetal death. We re not surprised that obesity or hypertension are associated with higher risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes, but what is striking is that we found that with each additional risk factor, the risk of adverse pregnancy outcome gets successively higher, said corresponding author Dr. Sadiya Khan, assistant professor of medicine and of pr