Women who give birth to twins two times more at risk of heart disease: Study

Women who give birth to twin babies are two times more at risk of facing a heart problem than those with singleton births according to a study on MondayThe research published in the European Heart Journal showed that the mother of twins is at higher risk of hospitalisation due to heart disease a year after birthNotably the risk is even higher in those who had a high blood pressure condition during pregnancy also known as preeclampsiaThe study led by researchers from Rutgers University in the US comes as ldquothe rate of twin pregnancies worldwide has risen in recent decades driven by fertility treatments and older maternal agesrdquoldquoThe maternal heart works harder for twin pregnancies than for singleton pregnancies and it takes weeks for the maternal heart to return to its prepregnancy staterdquo said lead author Dr Ruby Lin a maternalfoetal medicine fellow at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical SchoolldquoPeople with twin pregnancies should be aware of the shortterm increase in cardiovascular disease complications in the first year after birth even if they had a pregnancy that was not complicated by high blood pressure conditions such as preeclampsiardquo she addedThe study analysed data on 36 million hospital deliveries in the US from 2010 to 2020The results showed a higher proportion of readmissions for cardiovascular disease within a year of giving birth in women with twins 11054 per 100000 deliveries than those with singleton pregnancies 7341 per 100000 deliveriesCompared to singleton pregnancies with normal blood pressure people with twins with normal blood pressure were around twice as likely to be hospitalised with cardiovascular diseaseFor those with twins with high blood pressure during pregnancy the risk was more than eight times higher However one year after birth deaths from any cause including heart disease were higher among patients with singleton pregnancies who had high blood pressure conditions compared to patients with twins with high blood pressure conditions the study showedThis suggests that the risk to mothers of twins decreases in the longer term while the mothers of singletons may have other preexisting cardiovascular risk factorsLin said that patients undergoing fertility treatments especially those with advanced age obesity diabetes high blood pressure or heart disease should be advised that twin pregnancies may increase complications related to heart disease in the short termShe also urged healthcare providers to continue followup for up to a year after birth for highrisk pregnanciesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever