More Pregnant Women Are Suffering From Heart Attacks
BOSTON (CBS) -- The number of women who suffer from a heart attack while pregnant or soon after giving birth is on the rise. In fact, according to researchers at the NYU School of Medicine, the risk has gone up by 25-percent between 2002 to 2014.
The overall risk of having a heart attack while pregnant is still very low, but after looking at more than 49-million births, researchers found that risk continues to climb.
The cause is not completely clear but researchers believe several factors may contribute. Women are having children when they're older. More women of reproductive age are obese. More have diabetes. And the diagnosis is better now than before.
Women with risk factors for heart disease should be closely monitored and treated before pregnancy or to lower the risk of heart attack.