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Why is it important to know that pregnancy complications put me at future risk for heart disease?

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”These complications are an opportunity to detect early that there is a problem,” says [American Heart Association 2011] guideline chair Lori Mosca, MD, PhD. Mosca is director of preventive cardiology at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and a professor of medicine at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City.

You can then follow up with your primary-care doctor to evaluate your overall cardiac risk and quickly start appropriate prevention strategies.

“If you developed gestational diabetes, follow up and say, ‘What can I do to prevent heart disease and diabetes?’” she says. Your doctor may recommend weight loss, aggressive lifestyle changes, and possibly medication, she says. “We are unmasking a problem early so that we can prevent full-blown cardiovascular disease.”

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Read the Original Article: New Guidelines on Women’s Heart Risk