General practitioners' knowledge about pregnancy complications associated with long-term cardiovascular risk

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of mortality in women; preeclampsia (PE) and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) are associated with an increased risk of CVD.

To evaluate general practitioners (GP) knowledge about complicated pregnancies and their association with CVD.

An anonymous case-based electronic questionnaire designed to assess the level of understanding on the influence of a history of pregnancy complications on long-term cardiovascular risk and general knowledge about CVD risk was sent to GPs.

The response rate was 35 % (161/465). The participants recognized that PE and GDM are risk factors for CVD (98 and 83 %, respectively), and reported the following CVD screening strategies in women with a history of PE and GDM: blood pressure monitoring (PE 100 %, GDM 46 %), body mass index calculation (PE 68 %, GDM 57 %), lipid profile evaluation (PE 71 %, GDM 57 %), glycated hemoglobin (PE 26 %, GDM 92 %), and fasting glucose (PE 28 %, GDM 91 %).

GP-reported screening strategies to identify CVD in women with a history of PE and GDM were variable.