New preliminary research suggests young women who exhibit obesity may have heart complications during and after pregnancy, including changes in heart structure and function—potentially leading to preeclampsia. Findings were presented at the American Heart Association’s Basic Cardiovascular Sciences Scientific Sessions.
“The cardiovascular system of women undergoes profound changes during pregnancy, which return to pre-pregnancy levels three to six months after delivery,” said Katherine Shreyder, MD, PhD, of the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center at Permian Basin in Odessa, Texas, in a prepared statement. “The main goal of this ongoing study is to follow women through pregnancy to detect whether there are differences in how an obese woman’s cardiovascular system changes during pregnancy that might explain their predisposition to preeclampsia and other cardiovascular complications.”
The researchers examined heart and chemical changes among 11 obese with a body mass index (BMI) of 34 and 13 normal or overweight women, with a BMI of 25.5, throughout their first pregnancies. Most of the cohort was Hispanic.
Thus far, in comparison to the normal or overweight women, the researchers found that in the first trimester the obese women had a thicker left ventricle, a lower E/A ratio, lower ejection fraction, higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure readings.
The average blood pressure for obese women was 125/80 mmHg and for normal or overweight women, it was 109/69 mmHg.
“It seems that the obese patients will be more likely to deteriorate during pregnancy, because we started to observe higher blood pressure (although still in the normal range), an increase in left ventricular mass, and diminished pumping strength and relaxation,” Shreyder said.
The research is still ongoing, and the researchers will follow the women throughout their pregnancy and for six months postpartum. They will determine if levels of certain biomarkers of inflammation or obesity are related to changes in echocardiograms (ECG) or the development of preeclampsia.
ECG could be a beneficial screening tool for obese women if there is a link between changes in the heart seen on ECG and the risk of preeclampsia.
The authors noted study limitations including a small number of participants. They plan to expand the study to a larger, more ethnically diverse cohort.
As a senior news writer for TriMed, Subrata covers cardiology, clinical innovation and healthcare business. She has a master’s degree in communication management and 12 years of experience in journalism and public relations.