Reproductive History May Improve Cardiovascular Risk Assessment in Women<\/p>\n
Source: American Journal of Preventive Cardiology, June 2026; reported by TCTMD, June 26, 2026.
\n\u2022\u2060 \u2060A woman\u2019s reproductive history may provide important clues to her future cardiovascular risk and should complement traditional risk assessment.
\n\u2022\u2060 \u2060Factors associated with higher risk of early myocardial infarction (MI) included:
\n* Menarche before age 11 years.
\n* Postmenopausal status.
\n* Gestational diabetes.
\n* Previous female hormone therapy (mainly menopausal hormone therapy; excluding contraceptives and infertility treatment).
\n* Oral contraceptive use for 1\u20135 years was also associated with higher early MI risk; however, this was an observational association, not proof of causation, and details on contraceptive type, dose, and timing were unavailable.
\n\u2022\u2060 \u2060Factors associated with lower early MI risk included:
\n* Breastfeeding for \u22651 month, supporting previous evidence that lactation may improve long-term cardiometabolic health.<\/p>\n
\u2022\u2060 \u2060Pregnancy complications-especially gestational diabetes & hypertension-identify women at increased future cardiovascular risk.
\n\u2022\u2060 \u2060Authors recommend routinely documenting age at menarche, pregnancy complications, breastfeeding history, menopause, and hormone therapy as part of cardiovascular risk assessment to enable earlier prevention.<\/p>\n