Maternal Age at First Delivery and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease Later in Life

Background. To elucidate the association between maternal age at first delivery and cardiovascular health in women. Material and Method. A nationally representative survey, comprising 3,937 Finnish women aged 30–99 years with information on most of the potential cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors. Weighting survey analyses and logistic regression were performed. Results. Women who had their first delivery at age 25 or less had about five times higher odds ratio for myocardial infarction (fully adjusted OR: 4.82; 95% CI: 1.39–16.75) and about 2-fold higher odds ratio of arrhythmia (fully adjusted OR: 1.82; 95% CI: 1.13–2.92) compared to those who were 31–35 years at their first delivery. Each one year younger maternal age at first delivery predicted a higher risk of myocardial infarction (age-adjusted ; 95% CI: 1.06–1.18), hypertension (age-adjusted ; 95% CI: 1.03–1.07), arrhythmia (age-adjusted OR = 1.03; 95% CI: 1.01–1.05), angina pectoris (age-adjusted OR = 1.06; 95% CI: 1.02–1.10), and heart failure (age-adjusted ; 95% CI: 1.01–1.10). Conclusion. Maternal earlier age at first delivery is related to subsequent development of CVD, especially myocardial infarction. Our findings suggest a need for additional care and monitoring for CVD and its risk factors in women who had their first delivery at young ages. 1. Introduction The association between reproductive history and risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) is biologically plausible. Many studies have investigated the connection between the reproductive history of women and morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular diseases and have reported some controversial results [1, 2]. Earlier studies have suggested a small but adverse effect of parity and gravidity on subsequent CVD [3–8] that may not become apparent until older ages. There are few studies on the maternal age at first delivery and subsequent risk of CVD. A large retrospective cohort study found no significant association between age at first delivery and coronary heart disease (CHD) [3]. Three case-control studies found that the women who had their first delivery before the age of 25 appeared to be at higher risk of CHD [9–11] and ischemic heart disease [12]. Younger age at first delivery showed the higher risk of isolated systolic hypertension even after adjustment for age, height, weight, diastolic blood pressure, fasting blood glucose, low-density lipoprotein and total cholesterol, education, smoking, and physical activity [13]. However, the evidence of an association is far from conclusive. Due to long lag time between first