Miscarriages Increases The Risk of a Heart Attack

A woman who has had recurrent miscarriages increases the risk of a heart attack later in life finds a new study. Women with more than three spontaneous miscarriages were over five times more likely to suffer a heart attack later in life after adjusting for other factors, according to Dr. Elham Kharazmi of the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, Germany, and colleagues.

The relatively young age of the women meant overall risk remained low, but miscarriages could alert doctors to future problems, the researchers said. According to businessweek.com, researchers analyzed data from more than 11,500 women who had been pregnant at least once and found that 25 percent had experienced at least one detectable miscarriage, 18 percent had had at least one abortion and 2 percent had experienced a stillbirth. Over a follow-up of about 10 years, 82 of the women had a heart attack and 112 had a stroke. 

There was no significant association between any type of pregnancy loss and stroke, said the researchers. Each miscarriage increased heart attack risk by 40 percent, and having more than two miscarriages increased the risk by more than fourfold. Women who had more than three miscarriages had a ninefold increased risk. 

 The researchers said: "These results suggest that women who experienced spontaneous pregnancy loss are at a substantially higher risk of MI later in life. 

"Recurrent miscarriage and stillbirth are strong gender predictors for MI and thus should be considered as important indicators for monitoring cardiovascular risk factors and preventive measures."

However, other specialists said that the link between miscarriage and heart attacks remained a concern.

Professor Gordon Smith, from Cambridge University, said that other studies had pointed to an increase in heart disease risk among women who had pregnancy complications, which included pre-eclampsia, and premature birth alongside miscarriage. However, he said that the reasons why were still not fully understood, with some evidence suggesting that it was not an effect of having miscarriages, as quoted from bbc.co.uk