Pregnant women's heart health needs improvement: study

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CHICAGO, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- Fewer than one in 10 pregnant women had "favorable" cardiovascular health, and healthy diet and optimal physical activity were especially rare in pregnant women, according to a study of Northwestern University (NU).

The study was conducted using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) 1999 to 2014 for 1,117 pregnant and 8,200 non-pregnant women aged 20 to 44 years.

In the study, cardiovascular health was measured by diet, exercise, nonsmoking, body mass index, blood pressure, total cholesterol and blood glucose.

The study found 4.6 percent of pregnant women had high cardiovascular health, 60.6 percent had moderate cardiovascular health and 34.8 percent had low cardiovascular health.

The study also found cardiovascular health levels were worse in pregnant women who were younger, aged 20 to 24 years compared to 35 to 44 years, or who were non-Hispanic black as against non-Hispanic white or Hispanic. These subgroups may need special attention.

"Pregnant women should work with their primary care doctors or obstetrician/gynecologists, or both, to optimize their cardiovascular health levels before, during and after pregnancy," said Amanda Marma Perak, an assistant professor of pediatrics and preventive medicine at NU Feinberg School of medicine. "This means having a healthy diet, being physically active, avoiding smoking, having a healthy body weight and optimal levels of blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar."

"Healthy diet and optimal physical activity were especially rare in pregnant women, so these two behaviors would be a great place to start," Perak added.

The study was published Monday in the Journal of the American Heart Association. Enditem

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