Later-Life Mortality Increased With Pregnancy Complications

TUESDAY, April 4, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Pregnancy complications are associated with increased mortality in later life, according to a study published online March 28 in Circulation.

Stefanie N. Hinkle, Ph.D., from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and colleagues examined pregnancy complications in association with total and cause-specific mortality in 46,551 participants (45 and 46 percent Black and White, respectively). Adjusted hazard ratios for underlying all-cause and cause-specific mortality were estimated for preterm delivery (PTD), hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, and gestational diabetes/impaired glucose tolerance (GDM/IGT). The median time between index pregnancy and death/censoring was 52 years.

The researchers found that mortality was higher among Black than White participants (41 versus 37 percent). Of the participants, 15, 5, and 1 percent had PTD, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, and GDM/IGT, respectively. The incidence of PTD was higher in Black versus White participants (20 versus 10 percent). Associations with all-cause mortality were seen for preterm spontaneous labor, preterm premature rupture of membranes, preterm induced labor, and preterm prelabor cesarean delivery versus full-term delivery (adjusted hazard ratios, 1.07, 1.23, 1.31, and 2.09, respectively); gestational hypertension, preeclampsia or eclampsia, and superimposed preeclampsia or eclampsia compared with normotension (adjusted hazard ratios, 1.09, 1.14, and 1.32, respectively); and GDM/IGT versus normoglycemia (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.14). Greater mortality risk in association with preterm induced labor was seen for Black versus White participants (adjusted hazard ratios, 1.64 versus 1.29).

"The value of these data is that they provide more inclusive findings, extending what has been mostly limited to predominately White samples to Black pregnant people, as well," Hinkle said in a statement.

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