Having multiple miscarriages have been shown to increase heart risks.
By: Taren Vaughan
Having a miscarriage can be one of the most intense things that a woman can experience. Not only can they be just as physically painful as childbirth can be, the women who have them are often times left emotionally scarred from the thought of losing an unborn child. It is understood that miscarriages can be very taxing on our female organs. But how much of an impact do they have on our hearts?
First, let’s take a look at the numbers concerning miscarriages:
Results from a study indicated that out of 11,518 women ages 35 to 66 who had ever been pregnant, 25 percent had had at least one miscarriage, 18 percent had had at least one abortion, and 2 percent had had at least one stillbirth.
When thinking of the women who have multiple miscarriages, the individuals who have had several abortions are often the first ones who come to mind. But judging from these numbers, aborting a child is not the only thing that will land a woman in this category. Regardless of whether or not a woman has previously had an abortion, if they suffered from a miscarriage, then more could be at stake than they think. Due to amount of stress that miscarriages can place on the body, a woman’s chances of developing heart disease can increase dramatically.
American Heart Association spokesperson Suzanne Steinbaum lets us know that with this particular situation, we must look far beyond the normal risk factors that are linked to miscarriages:
“When evaluating a woman’s risk for heart disease, her risks cannot be defined the same as a man,” “The data seen in this trial demonstrates that the obstetrical history of a woman, including miscarriages and stillbirths, must be factored into the risk analysis to determine each individual woman’s risk for heart disease.”
Her conclusions make much sense as men’s bodies are not physically capable of the things that ours are such as bearing children and having menstrual cycles, things that can have the potential to put certain degrees of stress on different body parts and organs.
Other factors including smoking, excess drinking prior to becoming pregnant and poor eating habits can contribute to a woman’s chances of experiencing a miscarriage. Spousal stress can be linked to both miscarriages and the development of heart disease as well. Arguing with a boyfriend or significant other all the time is not healthy for a mother or her fetus and can cause high levels of stress to arise in her, possibly resulting in her losing her baby.
As a person who has close association with women who have had not one but several miscarriages throughout their lives, I have seen firsthand what kind of effect that they can have on a person, especially if the miscarriages occur back to back. And I’ve also see the ways that it affects the family members and friends of that individual as well. Even if a woman does get to the point where she is eventually able to carry a baby to full term without any complications, she can still harbor those emotional scars from her past pregnancies. As we can not control how miscarriages affect us emotionally, we can however try our best to prevent them from literally taking a toll on our hearts by remaining as stress free as possible during pregnancy.
Source: ABC News
