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Review
. 2023 Aug 31;137(16):1211-1224.
doi: 10.1042/CS20211130.

Placental syndromes and maternal cardiovascular health

Helen Casey  1 , Natalie Dennehy  2 , Abigail Fraser  3 , Christoph Lees  2 , Carmel M McEniery  4 , Kayley Scott  1 , Ian B Wilkinson  4 , Christian Delles  1
Affiliations
Review

Placental syndromes and maternal cardiovascular health

Helen Casey et al. Clin Sci (Lond). .

Abstract

The placental syndromes gestational hypertension, preeclampsia and intrauterine growth restriction are associated with an increased cardiovascular risk to the mother later in life. In this review, we argue that a woman's pre-conception cardiovascular health drives both the development of placental syndromes and long-term cardiovascular risk but acknowledge that placental syndromes can also contribute to future cardiovascular risk independent of pre-conception health. We describe how preclinical studies in models of preeclampsia inform our understanding of the links with later cardiovascular disease, and how current pre-pregnancy studies may explain relative contributions of both pre-conception factors and the occurrence of placental syndromes to long-term cardiovascular disease.

Keywords: cardiovascular health; cardiovascular risk; placenta; preeclampsia.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there are no competing interests associated with the manuscript.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Conceptual design of the relationships between placental syndromes and cardiovascular health
Figure 2
Figure 2. Different hypothetical models of life-course trajectories of cardiovascular dysfunction in healthy versus unhealthy pregnancies and in nulliparous women
(A) Lifetime risk is predominantly driven by pre-conception cardiovascular health. (B) Lifetime risk is predominantly driven by placental syndromes. (C) A healthy pregnancy leads to a healthier lifecourse. Red lines: placental syndromes; blue lines: no placental syndromes; dashed green line: nulliparous women.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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