Women with history of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) are at risk of future cardiovascular disease, suggests a new study from South Korea.¹

Data from the UK Biobank study was examined in this study to find out if women with a history of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) have an increased risk for long-term overall cardiovascular outcomes. The study enrolled 219,330 women with at least one live birth. Of these, 1,390 had a history of GDM during pregnancy.

Results presented at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine virtual meeting, which concluded yesterday show that a total of 13,094 (6%) women developed new cardiovascular outcomes over the follow-up period of 10 years. Women with a history of GDM were at a higher risk of cardiovascular disease (7.80 new incidences per 1,000 women-year) compared to women who did not have GDM (5.81 new incidences per 1,000 women-year).

When specific diseases were examined, the hazard ratio (HR) for new onset of CAD was 1.33; HR for MI was 1.67, for ischemic stroke 1.69, peripheral artery disease 1.06, heart failure 1.42, mitral regurgitation 2.27 and atrial  fibrillation/flutter 1.47 in women with a history of gestational diabetes.

It is possible that the traditional cardiovascular risk factors such as diabetes, hypertension also had an impact given that “in mediation analysis, subsequent overt diabetes explained 23%, hypertension explained 11%, and dyslipidemia explained 10% of this association between gestational diabetes and cardiovascular outcomes”.

Reference

1. Lee SM, et al. Long-term cardiovascular outcomes of gestational diabetes mellitus: a prospective population-based UK Biobank study. Abstract 53. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2022 Jan. 1;226(1 Suppl): S43-S44.