Pregnant women and heart disease: AdventHealth program aims to prevent risk

Pregnancy can be nature’s stress test on the mother’s heart, and it can forecast potential health risk down the road.

Expectant moms participating in an AdventHealth pilot program called the Mother’s Heartwise program, can prevent current and future heart issues at an earlier age through education and early intervention.

“Pregnancy is a unique (and narrow) window into that woman's future risk of having cardiovascular disease,” Dr. Patricia Guerrero, medical director for cardiovascular wellness and prevention at the AdventHealth Heart, Lung and Vascular Institute and one of the main designers of the pilot program, recently told Florida Trend magazine.

Complications, like high blood pressure, often go away in the weeks and months after the child’s birth, as pregnancy stresses fade away.

“Oftentimes, their access to medical care is only during pregnancy and immediately post pregnancy,” Guerrero said.

If mothers don’t get in right away to see a doctor, the opportunity may be lost.

Learn more about the risk factors that can be uncovered during pregnancy and for more information about the Mother’s HeartWise program contact the women’s health navigator at Call407-720-5191.