Pregnancy complications and future heart and blood vessel health
Official title: Adverse pregnancy outcomes and long-term risk of cardiovascular disease in women
Funded at University of Texas Hlth Sci Ctr Houston · NIH-11081650 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project looks at whether pregnancy complications are linked to higher risk of heart and vascular problems later in life for women.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Texas Hlth Sci Ctr Houston NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Houston, United States) |
| Project start | August 16, 2023 |
| Project end | April 30, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $393,156 |
| NIH project number | 5R01HL139536-08 |
| Project ID | NIH-11081650 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Women who have experienced pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, preterm delivery, or fetal growth restriction, and who can share medical records or be included in long-term follow-up, would be most relevant to this work.
✕Less likely to help
Women whose pregnancies were uncomplicated or those with already-established advanced cardiovascular disease may not directly benefit from the risk-identification focus of this research.
What this research studies
Researchers will analyze decades of pregnancy and health records from millions of births to see how complications like preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, preterm birth, and poor fetal growth relate to heart disease over time. They will track multiple heart-related outcomes such as heart attack, stroke, heart failure, and irregular heart rhythms and try to separate the effects of family history. The work uses prospectively collected registry and clinical data with follow-up stretching up to 48 years after pregnancy. Results aim to clarify long-term risks so doctors can better identify and monitor women at higher risk.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could help clinicians identify women at increased long-term heart disease risk earlier and offer prevention to reduce future heart attacks, strokes, and heart failure.
How similar studies have gone: Smaller prior studies have suggested links between some pregnancy complications and later heart disease, but this large, long-term, prospectively phenotyped analysis is more comprehensive and relatively novel.
Where this research is happening
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University of Texas Hlth Sci Ctr Houston
Houston, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Crump, Casey — University of Texas Hlth Sci Ctr Houston
- Study coordinator: Crump, Casey
Related research
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.