Those born to mothers who experienced placental abruption during pregnancy had an approximately 4.6 times higher risk of developing early cardiovascular disease or dying from cardiovascular disease by age 28. This finding was compared to people born without this complication, according to a new study published in the journal Today. American Heart Association Journalan open-access peer-reviewed journal of the American Heart Association.
Placental abruption occurs when the placenta separates from the uterus before birth rather than after birth, which can cause severe bleeding and other serious complications for mother and baby. According to the American Heart Association’s 2026 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics, most studies report an incidence of placental abruption in the general population of 0.5% to 1%.
Our study suggests that placental abruption should be considered as a very serious complication for the mother, which may also affect the baby’s cardiovascular health in the future. Most treatment after placental abruption focuses on monitoring the mother after pregnancy complications. Our study shows that it is important to also monitor children to identify potential complications due to increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Collaboration of cardio-obstetrics with medical schools and hospital pediatric programs will be important in providing support and monitoring the health of mothers and their babies after birth. ”
Dr. Kande Ananth, MPH; Lead author of the study, Chief of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, New Jersey;
The study investigated whether maternal placental abruption was associated with a child’s risk of heart disease and stroke disease and death from heart disease and stroke over a period of nearly 30 years.
The study reports:
- Of approximately 3 million pregnancies, approximately 1% (n = 28,641) were affected by placental abruption.
- During a 28-year follow-up period, children born to mothers who had placental abruption during pregnancy were 4.6 times more likely to die from cardiovascular disease than children born to mothers whose placenta separated from the uterus normally after birth.
- Children born to mothers who experience placental abruption are nearly three times more likely to be hospitalized for heart-related complications over the next 28 years. These conditions include heart failure, ischemic heart disease, heart attack, artery blockage, and general cardiovascular disease.
- The risk of stroke hospitalization in children was 2.4 times higher than in children whose mothers did not have placental abruption.
- These risks of developing heart disease and stroke were even higher in children under 1 year of age.
The association between placental abruption and increased risk of cardiovascular disease remained similar after additional analyzes controlled for risk of cardiovascular disease among biological siblings (each mother served as a unique control), suggesting that genetic and environmental factors do not explain this relationship.
“Placental abruption is a sudden, unpreventable, and catastrophic event that occurs without warning. Older women and those carrying multiple babies, such as twins or triplets, are at higher risk of developing the disease. Medical professionals recommend that patients We need to help her maintain a healthy lifestyle to protect her health. It is also important to avoid smoking, drinking alcohol, using illicit drugs (especially cocaine) and maintaining good blood pressure control.”
“We know that women who have complications during pregnancy are often at increased risk for heart disease and stroke, so the American Heart Association recommends that these women be closely monitored, especially during the first three months to one year of life,” said Stacey E. Rosen, M.D., volunteer president of the American Heart Association. “The results of this study reinforce the importance of monitoring the baby’s risks and identifying opportunities to reduce the potential impact that these complications can have on the baby, not just immediately after birth, but throughout life.” Rosen, who was not involved in the study, is executive director of the Katz Institute for Women’s Health and senior vice president of women’s health at Northwell Health in New York City.
According to the study authors, further research is needed to understand how placental abruption affects the heart health of the child born from the pregnancy. This study is one of the first to find an association with cardiovascular risk in children born to mothers with placental abruption. However, this study is an analysis of hospitalization and death records, so the results are limited. Therefore, researchers cannot prove cause and effect.
Research details, background and design:
- This analysis is a retrospective study of past data. Researchers analyzed nearly 3 million births in New Jersey from 1993 to 2020, focusing on mothers who had placental abruption and their babies born from those pregnancies, examining data from the Placental Abruption and Risk of Cardiovascular Events (PACER) project, along with hospitalization and mortality records. This study focuses only on only-child births.
- Of the 2,949,992 pregnancies included in the analysis, 1% (28,641 pregnancies) experienced placental abruption.
- The researchers followed the offspring for up to 28 years after their birth, examining hospital records and mortality records from the birth of the offspring to non-fatal cardiovascular-related hospitalizations. From birth to death due to any cause. Hospitalization for non-fatal cardiovascular disease can result in death from any cause.
sauce:
american heart association
Reference magazines:
anant, resume, Others. (2026). Cardiovascular disease in singletons born to pregnancies complicated by placental abruption: a population-based retrospective cohort study. American Heart Association Journal. DOI: 10.1161/jaha.125.045199. https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/JAHA.125.045199
