Family Size and Heart Disease: A Relationship?
by Jennifer Bunn, RNA large study of 1.3 million Swedish women over the age of 50 yielded some startling results: women who gave birth to two children had the lowest risk of developing heart disease or having a stroke later in life, while women who had no children or had one or three children had a 10% higher risk of heart disease or stroke. The risk tripled to 30% for women who had four children and rose to an astonishing 60% higher risk for mothers who had five or more children. Some of the women in the study were followed for as long as 23 years, and existing risk factors for heart disease and stroke were taken into account.
Does the study mean that women should limit the size of their family in order to decrease their future risk of heart disease and stroke? Obviously, this was not the goal of the research project. What the research shows is that there is a correlation between pregnancy and the changes that occur in circulation and blood vessels during pregnancy and the risk of future blood vessel disease, pointing the way to further studies in this area. It may also point to the need for more stringent screening for blood vessel disease in women who have given birth multiple times.
