Perceived Risk Perception of Future Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes in the Postpartum Period

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Endocrinology
• Public Health
• Women's Health

Background:

• Risk perception influences lifestyle choices for preventing diabetes mellitus (DM) and cardiovascular disease (CVD).
• Understanding risk perception in postpartum women with cardiometabolic conditions is crucial for targeted interventions.
• The link between risk perception and healthy lifestyle engagement in postpartum women remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how postpartum women with various cardiometabolic conditions perceive their future risk of DM and CVD.
• To determine if this risk perception influences their engagement in healthy lifestyle behaviors.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional study of 497 Australian women who delivered in the past five years.
• Logistic regression analyzed associations between pregnancy (gestational diabetes mellitus, gestational hypertension, pre-eclampsia, preterm birth, small-for-gestational-age infants) and non-pregnancy (polycystic ovary syndrome, infertility) conditions with perceived DM/CVD risk and lifestyle behaviors.
• Lifestyle behaviors included physical activity, sedentary behavior, and diet.

Main Results:

• Most participants reported low perceived future risk for DM (73.4%) and CVD (75.2%).
• History of gestational diabetes mellitus and gestational hypertension correlated with higher DM risk perception.
• History of pre-eclampsia and DM correlated with higher CVD risk perception.

Conclusions:

• Postpartum women, even with cardiometabolic conditions, exhibit low perceived risk for future DM and CVD.
• This low risk awareness underscores the need for improved postpartum support to enhance understanding of health risks.
• Targeted interventions are required to encourage healthy lifestyle adoption among postpartum women.