Around 15% of American kids experience developmental delays, and the number is rising.
Now a new study suggests that a specific factor in moms’ health plays a big role in whether her kid will face those challenges.
“Pregnancy is not like Vegas, where what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas,” Dr. Evelina Grayver told The Post. “What happens in pregnancy carries lifelong effect, not only for their mother, but clearly for their child, as well.”
The study shows mom’s heart health affects the environment the baby develops in, which in turn affects development of the brain and behavior years into their life.
The results do “not surprise me at all,” said Grayver, director of women’s heart health in Northwell Health’s Central Region and at the Katz Institute for Women’s Health. “It actually is incredibly enlightening the fact that we are finally at the point where we could actually recognize it.”
What researchers found
Over 8,000 moms were scored on their heart health based on their diet, physical activity, smoking, sleep, body mass index, blood lipids (i.e. cholesterol), glucose (i.e. risk of diabetes) and blood pressure. They were sorted into groups with high, moderate or low cardiovascular health.
Of moms with high heart health, only 8.8% had kids with development delays at age 4. That number nearly doubled (16.8%) for moms who had low heart health.
“Those with low cardiovascular health had 62% increased risk of developmental delay, suggesting that maternal heart health may play an incredibly important role in shaping long-term neuro development outcomes,” Grayver said.
Lower heart health was associated with delays across development: communication, gross motor (whole body movements), fine motor (movements in the hands and fingers), problem solving and personal-social skills. Personal-social skills were the most affected.
“Why? Well, when somebody is not in their optimal cardiovascular health, they are at significantly higher risk of developing adverse pregnancy outcomes, such as preeclampsia, gestational hypertension, spontaneous preterm delivery, which does not give their child a true, appropriate time to develop,” Grayver said.
A healthy mom’s heart can better deliver blood to the placenta, which transfers oxygen and nutrients to the fetus.
“Optimizing a woman’s heart health before and during the time of the pregnancy may be possibly one of the earliest opportunities that we have to influence lifelong health outcomes for both the mom and the child,” said Grayver.
Broad health benefits
It’s no surprise that taking care of your heart is good for you — better heart health is associated with less heart disease, longer life and better quality of life.
And previous research has shown that a mom’s bad heart health can have a big impact on birth — increasing risk of preeclampsia and unplanned c-sections — and years after, with kids ages 10-14 showing worse heart health if their mom also had it.
People have more power to improve their heart health than they might think.
“Cardiology is quite simple … 80% of cardiovascular disease is preventable, and 20% of it is genetic,” Grayver said. “Knowing your genetics prior to getting pregnant is important, but recognizing the fact that 80% of it is preventable … is vital, not only for their mother’s health, but the development of their children as well.”
Tips for better heart health
In 2010, the American Heart Association released a framework for thinking about heart health called Life’s Essential 7: diet, physical activity, exposure to nicotine, weight and risk of obesity, blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol. Recently, they added sleep to make it Life’s Essential 8.
Grayver says the first thing she’d recommend is to learn these eight guidelines, then break them down.
- Look at your diet. Try to stick to a clean Mediterranean diet as close as you possibly can: more fish, less red meats, more lean meats, vegetables, fruit, olive oil.
- Stay physically active, at least 30 minutes a day, five days out of the week.
- We don’t speak enough about sleep, but give your body the appropriate time to rest, at least seven to eight hours a day.
“That is how a young woman who is planning to potentially become a mom and planning a pregnancy should look at how to optimize her cardiovascular health,” she said.
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