According to the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute"s Multi-Ethnic Study of Athersclerosis (MESA), having even one baby — but especially five or more — is associated with poorer maternal cardiovascular health (CVH) in middle and late adulthood.
During 2000 to 2002, MESA recruited 3430 women aged 45 to 84 years. All had a physical exam, gave blood samples, and completed surveys about their health habits. The researchers calculated CVH scores according to Life"s simple 7, a seven-metric system from the American Heart Association that assesses smoking, physical activity, BMI, diet, blood pressure, total cholesterol, and blood glucose, and graded each participant for each risk factor on a scale of 0 to 2, with 2 indicating ideal status, 1 intermediate status, and 0 poor status.
A total of 698 women scored 11 to 14 for all seven factors and were deemed to have optimal CVH. A total cardiovascular health score of 0–8 was considered inadequate; 9–10, average; and 11–14, optimal. Women with ≥5 live births had a lower prevalence of optimal cardiovascular health scores.
Authors noted, that the metabolic processes occurring during pregnancy such as changes in lipids, glucose, and weight may partly explain the increased burden of CVD among multiparous women later in life.
