Coronary artery disease, a collective term for angina and heart attacks, is among the most common causes of death among women. A study published in Circulation, conducted by Tormod Rogne from Yale University/University of Oslo and Dipender Gill from Imperial College London, finds a genetic link between adverse birth outcomes and the risk of heart disease.
"The connection between pregnancy complications and heart disease is already established. What we do not know for certain is whether pregnancy complications are a direct cause of cardiovascular diseases or if they solely reveal an underlying vulnerability," explains Rogne.
Men as Control Group
The research team used men as a control group in the study. The hypothesis was that if the link between pregnancy complications and heart disease is due to a shared genetic vulnerability, the same connections would be seen in both women and men, even though men cannot experience pregnancy complications.
"We found the same links between genetic vulnerability for pregnancy complications and the risk of coronary artery disease in both women and men. This finding suggests that pregnancy complications do not trigger a risk for future heart disease but provide an important warning sign of a potential genetic vulnerability to cardiovascular diseases," explains Rogne.
Useful Knowledge
The relationship between pregnancy complications and heart disease has long been a mystery, according to Rogne. He now hopes that the findings of this study will lead to more research on the topic so that causation can be established.
"Epidemiologists are notoriously cautious about drawing definitive conclusions. Our findings suggest that there is no causal relationship between birth complications and heart disease. However, we will need more studies with different designs to fully unlock this mystery."
"The predictive value of a pregnancy complication remains. However, if it can be established that the complication itself does not trigger a vulnerability to heart disease, it could be reassuring for the woman – that the pregnancy complication has not caused harm but has instead revealed a vulnerability to heart disease that we can now attempt to prevent," emphasizes Rogne.
This article is also published at Science Norway.
Reference: Rogne T, Gill D. Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes and Coronary Artery Disease Risk: A Negative Control Mendelian Randomization Study. Circulation. 2025 Jan 14;151(2):193-195. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.124.070509. Epub 2025 Jan 13. PMID: 39804903; PMCID: PMC11740089.