Grant: CIHR Fellowship

Pregnancy complications, including hypertension and diabetes during pregnancy, occur in 1-8% of pregnancies and are associated with serious outcomes in mothers and infants. Previous studies have shown that women with more than 2 complications and/or consecutive pregnancies affected by pregnancy complications are at higher risk of a negative outcome. Additionally, women with pregnancy complications have been found to have a higher risk of heart disease. New research suggests that these complications may also impact the long-term health of children. There is therefore a need to understand how pregnancy complications effect the risk of death in women and their children and how the risk of death differs within and between pregnancies. There is also a need to find new risk factors that will identify women and children at increased risk of death. This project will use 46,474 women enrolled in the Collaborative Perinatal Project from 1959-1965 across the United States. Children of women enrolled in this study will also be used. We will examine the effect of pregnancy complications on the risk of all-cause and cause-specific death among women and children and how this effect differs within and between pregnancies. A predictive model will be subsequently developed to identify factors prior to or during pregnancy that predict future risk of death in women and children. This study will provide a better understanding of the impact of pregnancy complications on the risk of death in women and children. The findings of this work will also help to isolate risk factors that can identify women and children at highest risk. This work has the potential to improve the long-term health outcomes of mothers and children through the early detection and management of risk factors.