Reproductive Health and Cardiovascular Disease Risk
Summary
Reproductive health encompasses a continuum of physiological events—from the onset of menstruation to menopause—and includes exposures such as parity, pregnancy complications and losses. These reproductive milestones influence cardiovascular risk via hormonal, metabolic and inflammatory pathways. Early menarche and premature menopause shorten lifetime exposure to endogenous oestrogens, accelerating vascular ageing and endothelial dysfunction. Conversely, high parity and recurrent pregnancy losses, including miscarriage and stillbirth, have been linked to cardiometabolic alterations such as hypertension, dyslipidaemia and insulin resistance. Pregnancy itself imposes substantial haemodynamic stress, and adverse outcomes such as gestational diabetes or pre-eclampsia serve as early markers of vascular vulnerability. Collectively, these factors contribute to an elevated lifetime risk of coronary heart disease, stroke and heart failure in women. Recognition of reproductive history as an integral component of cardiovascular risk assessment offers opportunities for earlier intervention and personalised prevention strategies.
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Reproductive Health and Cardiovascular Disease Risk publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in reproductive health and cardiovascular disease risk across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Menarche: The onset of the first menstrual cycle, marking reproductive maturity.
Menopause: The cessation of menstrual cycles, signalling the end of reproductive capacity.
Parity: The number of pregnancies carried to a viable gestational age.
Heart failure: A clinical syndrome in which the heart cannot pump blood effectively to meet the body’s needs.
Coronary heart disease (CHD): A condition characterised by narrowing of the coronary arteries, leading to myocardial ischaemia.
Hypertension: Persistently elevated arterial blood pressure, a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease.
Lipoprotein metabolism disorders: Abnormalities in the processing of blood lipids, including cholesterol and triglycerides.
Stillbirth: The intrauterine death of a fetus at or after 20 weeks of gestation.
References
- Female Reproductive Factors and Risk of New-Onset Heart Failure Findings From UK Biobank. JACC Heart Failure (2023).
- Fetal loss and long-term maternal morbidity and mortality: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLOS Medicine (2024).
- Metabolic disorders mediate the relation of miscarriage with cardiovascular diseases. European Journal of Preventive Cardiology (2023).
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