Poor Prepregnancy Cardiometabolic Health Common in the U.S.

The prevalence of favorable prepregnancy cardiometabolic health among U.S. individuals with live births decreased from 2016 to 2019, according to a research letter published in the Feb. 15 issue of Circulation.

Natalie A. Cameron, M.D., from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, and colleagues conducted a nationwide, serial cross-sectional analysis of maternal birth records from all live births in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Natality Database from 2016 to 2019. The age-specific and age-standardized prevalence of favorable cardiometabolic health was calculated for 14,174,625 individuals with live births aged 20 to 44 years.

The researchers found that from 2016 to 2019, there was a decrease in the prevalence of favorable cardiometabolic health, from 43.5 to 40.2 per 100 live births (average percent change, −2.6 percent per year). In each five-year age stratum, the prevalence of favorable cardiometabolic health declined similarly from 2016 to 2019 and varied from 37.1 to 42.2 in 40- to 44-year-olds and 30- to 34-year-olds, respectively. Declines in favorable cardiometabolic health were seen in all regions and states, with significant geographic variation; the prevalence of favorable prepregnancy cardiometabolic health was lower in the South and Midwest versus the West and Northeast (38.2 and 38.8 versus 42.2 and 43.6, respectively).

"In addition to optimizing health for those interested in becoming pregnant, it's important to focus on optimizing cardiovascular health throughout young adulthood because nearly half of pregnancies are unplanned," a coauthor said in a statement.