Women treated for infertility were twice as likely to be hospitalized for heart disease in the year after giving birth as those who conceived their child naturally.
- The rates of hospitalization for heart disease in cases of infertility treatment and natural conception of a child were 550 and 355 per 100,000 patients, respectively.
- Women who used infertility treatment were 2.16 times more likely to be hospitalized due to dangerously high blood pressure or hypertension.
- The increased risk of heart disease could come from the infertility treatments themselves, the underlying medical problems that made patients infertile, or another cause.
“Cardiovascular disease is a major cause of maternal mortality, but the extent to which infertility treatment is involved in cardiac conditions is unclear,” indicated researchers from the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (UNITED STATES). This is why they carried out a study whose results were published in the journal Journal of Internal Medicine.
Twice as likely to be hospitalized for hypertensive disease if treated for infertility
For the purposes of their work, the team used data from more than 31 million women discharged from hospital after childbirth between 2010 and 2018, including 287,813 patients who underwent infertility treatment. Scientists were particularly interested in the risk of being hospitalized within 12 months of the baby’s birth due to heart disease (including ischemic heart disease, atherosclerotic heart disease, cardiomyopathy, hypertensive disease, heart failure and cardiac dysrhythmias).
Out of 100,000 patients who gave birth, 550 women who benefited from infertility treatment were hospitalized for cardiovascular disease in the year following childbirth, compared to 355 for those who had a natural pregnancy. The greatest increase in risk was observed for hypertensive disease. Volunteers who underwent infertility treatment were 2.16 times more likely than those who conceived naturally to be hospitalized due to dangerously high blood pressure or hypertension. “This increase in risk was apparent from the 30th day after delivery, with a gradual increase in risk up to one year,” can we read in the results.
Infertility: “see if different types of treatment are associated with different levels of cardiac risk”
According to the authors, the increased risk of heart disease could come from the infertility treatments themselves, from underlying medical problems that made patients infertile, or from another cause. “In the future, I would like to see whether different types of infertility treatment and, importantly, medications are associated with different levels of risk. Our data does not allow us to know which patients underwent which treatment. More detailed information could also lead to a better understanding of the impact of infertility treatment on cardiovascular outcomes. said Rei Yamadalead author of the research, who concluded that postpartum examinations were thus necessary for all patients.
