Women who have a problem with diabetes during pregnancy are more likely to develop cardiovascular disease in the future. But a healthy lifestyle could reduce these risks.
Gestational diabetes is diabetes that appears during pregnancy, usually towards the end of the second trimester. It can last only the time of pregnancy, or be a sign of diabetes already present.
According to a study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, women with diabetes during pregnancy are at risk of later developing cardiovascular disease.
43% more risk of having heart problems
About 90,000 American women, over the age of 26, have been followed after pregnancy for almost 20 years. As a result, those who have had gestational diabetes are 43% more likely to later have heart disease, such as a myocardial infarction or cardiac arrest.
Previous studies had already highlighted this link between gestational diabetes and heart problems. However, they did not raise a point: the importance of a healthy lifestyle in reducing risks.
Healthy living reduces risks
Indeed, the weight of the woman and her lifestyle can play a role. Either increase the risks or, on the contrary, reduce them. A strong weight gain, for example, or a deterioration of the lifestyle (no longer eating a balanced diet at all, ceasing all sporting activity, increasing food excess) are particularly associated with an increased cardiovascular risk.
In all cases, it is therefore important for a woman who suffered from diabetes during her pregnancy to be monitored after childbirth.
.
