Women with a history of gestational diabetes are at increased risk for heart artery calcification, a marker of increased risk for heart disease, throughout their childbearing years and into mid-life, even if they currently have normal blood sugar levels, a new study from Kaiser Permanente Division of Research shows as reported in a news release.
The prospective study, published in Circulation, is the first to look at heart disease risk in relation to changes in blood sugar levels in women who developed gestational diabetes and those who did not over a 25-year period, Kaiser Permanente Division of Research said.
The study found a 2-fold higher risk for heart artery calcification in women who had gestational diabetes and normal blood sugar compared with women who did not have gestational diabetes and had normal blood sugar levels. The 2-fold higher risk was present in women with a history of gestational diabetes who many years later had blood sugar levels classified as normal, pre-diabetes, or type 2 diabetes.
“We expected that women who had developed diabetes during pregnancy and then had attained normal blood sugar levels in the 15 years after pregnancy would have a lower relative risk of heart artery calcification than those who later developed prediabetes or type 2 diabetes,” said Erica P. Gunderson, PhD, MS, MPH, Senior Research Scientist in Lifecourse Cardiovascular and Metabolic Research at the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research, who led the study. “Our findings represent a paradigm shift by showing that normal blood glucose many years after gestational diabetes is associated with the same higher risk of heart artery calcification also seen in women who have developed prediabetes or type 2 diabetes.”
Each year in the U.S., about 250,000 pregnant women develop diabetes.
Because gestational diabetes greatly increases a woman’s lifelong risk for type 2 diabetes, the American Diabetes Association currently recommends all women who develop gestational diabetes have a glucose tolerance test every 1 to 3 years. American Heart Association guidelines underscore that a history of gestational diabetes is important to consider in evaluating individual risk for atherosclerotic heart disease.
The new findings suggest physicians should monitor clinical risk factors for heart disease in all women who develop gestational diabetes before they develop prediabetes or diabetes. Women with a history of gestational diabetes may also benefit from healthy lifestyle choices and weight loss to reach ideal body weight, the research institute said.
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