Abstract
Background
Certain maternal complications of pregnancy, including hypertensive disorders of pregnancy,
gestational diabetes mellitus, birth of a growth restricted infant, idiopathic preterm
labour, and placental abruption, are associated with a significantly increased risk
of future maternal cardiovascular disease. In Australia, it is relatively unknown
how many women with a history of complicated pregnancies are aware of their future
cardiovascular disease risk.
Aim
The aim of this study was to determine what percentage of women attending a cardiovascular
disease prevention clinic in South Australia soon after a complicated pregnancy were
aware of their increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
Methods
This prospective observational study included 188 women attending a postpartum prevention
clinic between 7th August 2018 and 10th February 2021. These women had experienced
a serious maternal complication of pregnancy approximately seven months earlier. Women
completed a self-administered health awareness survey immediately prior to their first
clinic appointment to assess their awareness of their increased cardiovascular risk.
Findings
Over two-thirds (69.1 %) of the women were unaware of the association between pregnancy
complications and cardiovascular disease, and 6.4 % of the cohort did not realise
they had experienced a complicated pregnancy. Almost 10 % of the cohort did not correctly
identify the complication/s they had been diagnosed with during pregnancy.
Conclusion
Awareness of the association between complications of pregnancy and future cardiovascular
disease was low in our cohort of women who had experienced a complication of pregnancy
only seven months earlier. This emphasises the need for improved education for and
communication with women to assist in implementing preventative care strategies.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: October 10, 2022
Publication stage
In Press Corrected ProofIdentification
Copyright
© 2022 Australian College of Midwives. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
