Nutrition Interventions for Lowering Cardiovascular Risk After Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy: A Systematic Review.

Background: Hypertension is one of the most common medical problems during pregnancy. Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) increase the risk of premature cardiovascular disease (CVD) 2- to 4-fold within 10 years after delivery. Early health behaviour modifications may prevent or manage several cardiovascular risk factors. Importantly, compared with women without HDP, fewer women with HDP achieve national dietary guidelines to prevent CVD. This highlights an opportunity for programs tailored for women post-HDP to support their nutritional behaviours as a key component of postpartum CVD preventive care. This systematic review investigated the impacts of nutrition modifications on lowering measures of CVD risk after HDP.

Methods: Four electronic databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Cochrane Library) were searched in October 2022 with a search strategy focused on nutrition programs/interventions and women post-HDP. Additional inclusion criteria were original research and reported outcome of CVD risk or cardiovascular risk factors.

Results: Six studies were included: 4 experimental trials and 2 prospective cohort studies. Of the nutrition interventions, 4 were embedded within comprehensive health behaviour intervention programs. Outcome measures varied, but all studies reported blood pressure. A narrative synthesis found that the range of changes in blood pressure varied from no change to clinically meaningful change.

Conclusions: This review found statistically nonsignificant yet clinically important improvements in measures of cardiovascular risk across a range of nutritional interventions in women after HDP. Further high-quality evidence is needed to inform the design and implementation of nutritional preventive cardiovascular care targeting this high CVD-risk population.