Changes in Cardiometabolic Risk Factors Before and After Gestational Diabetes: A Prospective Life-Course Analysis in CARDIA Women.

Objective: This study hypothesized that both preconception and postchildbearing patterns of cardiometabolic risk factors may be different for women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) compared with women without GDM.

Methods: Among 1,302 (51% black) women in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study with births and followed for 30 years, this study evaluated changes in cardiometabolic factors (BMI, waist circumference [WC], lipids, blood pressure) during prechildbearing (prior to the first postbaseline birth) and postchildbearing periods (after the last birth) by GDM status using piecewise linear mixed models adjusted for sociodemographics, parity, and time-varying covariates.

Results: Compared with women who did not develop GDM, weight and WC increases in women who developed GDM (n = 152, 12%) were faster (BMI difference: +0.

Lactation and Maternal Subclinical Atherosclerosis Among Women With and Without a History of Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy.

We evaluated subclinical cardiovascular disease in relation to lactation history among women with normotensive pregnancies and women with hypertensive pregnancies, a distinction not previously examined. The POUCHmoms study included 678 women from a pregnancy cohort who were followed 7-15 years after delivery. We measured blood pressure, lipid levels, carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT), and lactation duration for each live birth (LB) at follow-up.

Breastfeeding Greater Than 6 Months Is Associated with Smaller Maternal Waist Circumference Up to One Decade After Delivery.

Background: Abdominal obesity is an important indicator of cardiometabolic dysfunction in later life. Prior studies have observed an inverse association between breastfeeding and maternal waist circumference (WC) in the years after pregnancy, but this may be due to bias resulting from systematic differences in women who do and do not breastfeed.

Materials And Methods: A total of 678 women enrolled in the Pregnancy Outcomes and Community Health (POUCH) cohort also participated in the POUCHmoms Study 7-15 years after delivery.

Women with Preterm Birth Have Evidence of Subclinical Atherosclerosis a Decade After Delivery.

Women with preterm birth (PTB) have excess risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and metabolic dysregulation after delivery, but vascular mechanisms are poorly understood. We considered that women with PTB may have evidence of subclinical atherosclerosis after delivery, perhaps related to cardiometabolic risk factors. The Pregnancy Outcomes and Community Health Moms (POUCHmoms) study followed women from pregnancy through 7 to 15 years after delivery ( = 678).

Blood Pressure Patterns and Subsequent Coronary Artery Calcification in Women Who Delivered Preterm Births.

Women who delivered preterm infants have excess cardiovascular disease, but vascular pathways linking these conditions are not understood. We considered that higher blood pressure over 25 years among women with preterm delivery may be associated with coronary artery calcification (CAC). The CARDIA study (Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults) enrolled 1049 black and white women with births between 1985 and 2010 (n=272 ever preterm [<37 weeks]; n=777 all term births [≥37 weeks]).