Sophia Antipolis, 3 February 2017: Number of children is emerging as a novel factor that influences the risk for some cardiovascular diseases (CVD), and in some societies in both parents, according to Professor Vera Regitz-Zagrosek, chairperson of the European Society of Cardiology “management of CVD During Pregnancy” guidelines task force.
Sophia Antipolis, 3 February 2017: Number of children is emerging as a novel factor that influences the risk for some cardiovascular diseases (CVD), and in some societies in both parents, according to Professor Vera Regitz-Zagrosek, chairperson of the European Society of Cardiology “management of CVD During Pregnancy” guidelines task force.
Her comments come as new research published in Circulation found that experiencing multiple pregnancies increases a woman’s risk of developing atrial fibrillation (AF) later in life.1
“The authors describe a linear increase in AF with increasing number of children” said Professor Regitz-Zagrosek. “This is interesting by itself and an explanation could be given by biological and sociocultural factors.”
A study of 0.5 million Chinese people found a statistically significant J-shaped relationship between number of children and risk of coronary heart disease and stroke.2 “It means that the risk decreases with one child, then increases with two or more children,” she said. “In the AF study, a J-shaped relationship was not statistically significant, but this may be because it was in around 34 000 women and relatively small in comparison with the Chinese study.”
Read more at European Society of Cardiology
