Beyond pregnancy: long-term maternal and offspring health implications of pregnancy disorders

Nevertheless, they argue that pregnancy disorders offer a window of opportunity to identify this increased risk early in life and to modify it in order to reduce the burden of CVD later in life. To do so, better tools to predict both pregnancy disorders and CVD after pregnancy, and better screening and intervention strategies aimed at risk reduction are needed. Part II of the thesis studies cognitive development of children in relation to pregnancy complications, interventions around birth and sociodemographic characteristics during pregnancy.

They find that being born prematurely, having low birthweight for gestational age, low socio-economic status or being born after labour induction is associated with slightly reduced average school performance at age 12. They emphasize the need to incorporate long-term outcomes in future research, and to appropriately weigh short- and long-term risks in decisions around timing of labour and other interventions.