Pregnancy, Age, And Heart Disease

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- There is a new report in the journal of the American Heart Association which takes a very interesting look at the age when a woman gives birth and the relationship to heart disease years later.

The information comes from the famous Framingham study, which has followed people for decades.

What the researchers found is that women who gave birth as teenagers showed a higher risk of cardiovascular disease by the time they were in their 50s, 60s, and 70s compared to women who gave birth in their 20s.

There were 905 women in the study and they said there were certain things that stood out.

The women who gave birth as teenagers had a higher prevalence of childhood economic and social adversity, and they had lower educational attainment.

In addition, they were more likely to have given birth to at least four children.

The researchers said all of these factors did contribute to the increased results that they found.