Maternal Cardiovascular Health

Historically, the focus on the development of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease has been on individual risk factors. These factors, which are associated with increased risk of myocardial infarction and stroke, were identified in the Framingham Study and other longitudinal observational studies of adults. The traditional risk factors are hypertension, dyslipidemia, obesity, diabetes, and cigarette smoking. Subsequently, other potential risk factors, such as inflammation and insulin resistance, have been included in the discussion. The recognition of risk factors was a substantial advance because it provided clinical targets for intervention. Subsequent research has demonstrated that interventions that result in improvement in risk factors do reduce the risk of morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular disease. Research has shown that these risk factors are present in children and adolescents and are associated with increased prevalence and severity of atherosclerotic lesions in individuals who had autopsies after death due to various causes and trauma.
Source: JAMA - Category: General Medicine Source Type: research