Adverse pregnancy outcomes and long-term cardiovascular disease risk.

Abstract

Pregnancy provides a unique physiological stress test for the cardiovascular system, during which, adverse pregnancy outcomes (APOs) can unmask latent susceptibility to future disease. Common complications, including hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP), gestational diabetes, and preterm birth (delivery before 37 weeks' gestation), identify women at substantially higher long-term risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality compared with women without a history of APOs. These excess risks likely reflect the combined effects of pre-existing cardiometabolic and genetic susceptibility, as well as the haemodynamic and metabolic stressors of pregnancy, heralding accelerated risk factor trajectories, relative impairment in endothelial and microvascular function, and early disease onset. This final Review in the Series extends the focus from cardiovascular disease during pregnancy and HDP to the long-term cardiovascular implications of APOs after delivery. We synthesise epidemiological data quantifying cardiovascular risk across major APO phenotypes and emerging evidence linking maternal APO history with cardiometabolic risk trajectories in offspring. We also delineate putative mechanistic pathways and summarise guidelines and consensus-informed recommendations for short-term and long-term follow-up after APOs. Finally, we propose practical approaches for integrating APO history into cardiovascular disease risk assessment and guideline-directed prevention across the female life course. We highlight key knowledge gaps, including uncertainty about optimal follow-up models, the limitations of current risk-stratification tools, and the absence of APO-specific prevention trials. We also outline priorities for mechanistic and implementation research. Positioning APOs as early, sex-specific indicators of cardiovascular risk offers a key window of opportunity to shift prevention upstream and improve cardiovascular health outcomes for women.