Repeated miscarriages can escalate the risks of heart problems, according to a new study.
The study presented Tuesday at the American Heart Association annual meeting in Los Angeles looked at more than one million Danish women to analyze the hidden risks associated with miscarriages, Health Day reported.
Researchers found women with the history of one or more miscarriages at greater risk for hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis) disease, one of the main causes of heart attacks, stroke and renovascular hypertension. Renovascular hypertension is high blood pressure caused by narrowing of the arteries that transport blood to the kidneys.
Arteries are blood vessels that play an important role in transmitting oxygen-rich blood to heart and other parts of the body. In atherosclerosis, a plaque (formed with some substances found in blood like fat, cholesterol and calcium) develops inside the arteries, affecting normal blood flow to heart.
Experiencing at least one miscarriage was found to escalate the risk of heart attack by 11 percent, stroke by 13 percent and renovascular hypertension by 15 percent.
Women with four or more miscarriages were found to have a 22 percent higher risk of suffering from a heart attack and associated with nearly 90 percent increased risks of stroke. Each additional miscarriage was associated with a nine percent increase risks of heart attack, 13 percent higher risk of stroke and 19 percent higher risk of renovascular hypertension.
However, the researchers couldn't find the causes behind this occurrence. This is not the first study to find the hidden risks associated with miscarriages. A study published in the Journal Heart in 2010, analyzed 11,500 German women. Experiencing stillbirth or more than one miscarriage was found escalating the risks of heart attack later.
According to the Heart Foundation, nearly 435,000 American women have heart attacks annually and 267,000 women die from heart attacks every year. Regarding stroke, more than100, 000 U.S. women below 65 are estimated to die this year, American Stroke Association said.
