Women who have given birth prematurely face a significantly increased risk of developing heart disease, aggravated if they have smoked, researchers warn today.
Researchers found women faced a risk that was more than tripled if a woman suffered premature birth and had smoked through pregnancy.
While smoking’s contribution to heart disease is well-established, the researchers say there could be a number of reasons linking premature birth to a mother’s risk of heart disease.
The findings come from a study of some 900,000 women and are reported in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.
One possibility is the increased risk arises simply from the stress of caring for a premature baby – and that this makes women more likely to adopt unhealthy lifestyles.
Researcher Dr Anh Ngo, of the University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, said: “Our research shows for the first time that smoking and preterm birth interact to create a greater cardiovascular disease risk than either risk factor on its own.
"One explanation could be the stress of caring for a preterm infant which may lead to unhealthy behaviours such as smoking, which increases the likelihood of future preterm births. Stress itself causes metabolic disorders, atherosclerosis and ultimately cardiovascular disease.”
Dr Ngo said: “Women who smoke and have a preterm birth more than triple their risk of cardiovascular disease. More efforts are needed to persuade and support women to kick the habit.
"These efforts will have positive effects for both mothers and their babies.”
Interaction of maternal smoking and preterm birth on future risk of maternal cardiovascular disease – a population-based record linkage study. European Journal of Preventive Cardiology 9 July 2015; doi: 10.1177/2047487315593836
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