Blog #4- Miscarriages tied to family heart disease history

Kerris McKoy
February 11, 2010
11:04 PM

Researchers in the United Kingdom have found a correlation between the family heart disease history and the chances for miscarriages with pregnant women. It is said that women who have miscarried twice before having their first child had a higher risk of having parents with heart disease. Dr. Gordon Smith of Cambridge University said that the risk is even higher in women who’d miscarried three times before giving birth. At the moment Smith states that this news cannot help women lower their risk of multiple miscarriages. However, the news may serve as a clue for researchers studying how genes passed from parent to child affect both heart disease and miscarriage. Previously Smith and his team conducted research involving nearly 130,000 Scottish women. Of these women they found that those with frequent miscarriages were more likely to have heart problems as they aged. The team was curious to see if there was really a genetic relation between the two. Smith and his team looked at data from women delivered their first child between 1992-2006. They found that women who had two miscarriages were 25% more likely to have parents hospitalized or died from heart disease. They found a woman who had three miscarriages before giving birth was 56% more likely to have parents with heart disease. Smith said, in early pregnancy the heart and blood vessels must do a great deal to ensure that the pregnancy continues. Smith believes that some sort of hidden heart issues could definitely affect this process. Having parents with heart disease does not mean that women will have miscarriages. There may be future research that can link the two, and then there is a possibility for treatment.