Heart attacks in pregnant women are on the rise in the United States, a new study reveals.
Researchers have found that one in four pregnancy-related deaths are caused by cardiovascular complications. What’s more is one in 10 pregnant women are at risk of suffering heart failure, a heart attack or a stroke, doctors say.
The risk is greater for expectant mothers over 40 years old, according to cardiologist Dr. Catherine Weinberg.
Compounding matters is doctors are clueless as to what’s causing the uptick.
“We’re seeing that there’s actually an increase in the number of heart attacks during pregnancy, and that number is going up in the United States,” Weinberg says. “We don’t exactly understand why. We also sometimes unmask disorders that we didn’t realize were present before.”
