Pregnancy Complications Linked to Subsequent Risk for Cardiometabolic-Renal Conditions

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 7, 2026 (HealthDay News) — Certain pregnancy complications are associated with an increased risk for cardiometabolic-renal conditions in subsequent years, according to a study published online Oct. 6 in BMJ Medicine.

Steven Wambua, Ph.D., from the King”s College London School of Life Course and Population Sciences, and colleagues examined the association between pregnancy complications and cardiometabolic-renal conditions in a longitudinal study involving 1,432,795 women aged 15 to 49 years who had been pregnant. The first recorded diagnosis of each of four conditions (cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and chronic kidney disease) was examined.

Participants were followed for a median of 4.1 to 4.3 years. The researchers found that 51 of 72 associations examined were significant after correction for multiple testing. The rate of hypertension more than tripled, and the rate of chronic kidney disease approximately doubled with gestational hypertension and preeclampsia; smaller increases were seen for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus. A sevenfold increased rate of type 2 diabetes was seen in association with gestational diabetes mellitus, as were increased rates of hypertension and cardiovascular disease, but not chronic kidney disease. The rate of all four outcomes was increased by 35 to 56 percent for the latest pregnancy in association with postnatal depression. Modestly higher rates of one or more outcomes were seen in association with miscarriage, stillbirth, placental abruption, and preterm birth in the latest or in a previous pregnancy.

“Women with a pregnancy complication in the latest pregnancy or in a previous pregnancy had an increased risk of cardiometabolic-renal disease in the subsequent years after pregnancy,” the authors write.

Abstract/Full Text