Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in women. It has increased among young women secondary to lack of awareness to their future CVD risk factors. Gestational diabetes mellitus (DM) and hypertension (HTN), which complicate up to 7% and 6% of pregnancies in Israel respectively, have been associated with increased long term CVD risk. This pilot study assessed the prevalence of gestational DM and HTN among young women undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) at our medical center.
Methods: We used our comprehensive registry of patients undergoing PCI between 2004 and 2011, including demographic, clinical, angiographic and procedural data. Women < 60 years of age, who underwent PCI for urgent and non- urgent indications, were contacted by questioners to verify whether they had gestational DM or HTN.
Results: 322 women< 60 years old underwent PCI of whom 92 (28.5%), 115 (35.7%) and 113 (35%) had PCI for STEMI, ACS and stable angina respectively. We have contacted 60 patients, of whom 13 (21.6%) had gestational DM and 11 (18.3%) had gestational HTN. A third of the women had either previous gestational DM or HTN. 92% of the women with previous gestational DM had DM and 91% of patients with previous gestational HTN had HTN.
Conclusion: In this preliminary study we found that the prevalence of gestational DM or HTN among young women with CVD undergoing PCI is ~3 times higher than reported in the general population in Israel. Third of the studied women had either gestational DM or HTN. In light of these findings, efforts should be made towards extending the clinical follow-up in order to identify this special group of women at increased CVD risk. Intensified long-term CVD risk management should be adopted among women following gestational DM or HTN.
