美国国家公共电台 NPR Women With High-Risk Pregnancies Are More Likely To Develop Heart Disease

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

There's some new information about heart disease in women. Some of the risk factors are well-known - smoking, poor diet and obesity¹. Now doctors say complications in pregnancy² can put women at risk too. Anna Gorman reports from Los Angeles.

ANNA GORMAN, BYLINE³: Lara Hogan sits on the floor of her Topanga Canyon⁴ home and plays with her 1-year-old son, Zion.

LARA HOGAN: How about your drum?

ZION: (Playing toy drum).

GORMAN: Zion was born prematurely⁵ at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in LA.

HOGAN: Good song.

GORMAN: Hogan took medicine off and on for moderately high blood pressure. It runs in her family. During her pregnancy, it was well controlled without meds. But a month before her due date, her pressure spiked⁶ to a dangerous level. It's called preeclampsia, and it can be fatal.

HOGAN: It was a nightmare. It was really, like, all I dreamt about was this moment for so many years, and it was, like, the opposite of everything I thought it would be.

GORMAN: Doctors told her they had to deliver the baby right away. But unlike most women, Hogan's pressure didn't return to normal after delivery.

HOGAN: So they had someone standing⁷ at my bedside monitoring me in case anything happened because I guess they were so nervous that I was going to have a stroke.

GORMAN: Finally, Hogan recovered. And soon after Zion was born, doctors connected her with the hospital's Women's Heart Center.

Hogan, who's 41, learned that she could have future heart problems because of her complications in pregnancy, which are more common in older mothers.

HOGAN: It is clear that there is a higher risk for me of heart disease based on what I went through. So I'm going to be all over that.

GORMAN: The chances of heart disease increase up to eightfold if women have high blood pressure or diabetes⁸ during pregnancy or if their babies are born too small or too early. Dr. Noel Bairey Merz is the director of the Women's Heart Center at Cedars-Sinai.

NOEL BAIREY MERZ: This is a, you know, an area of what we would call knowledge gaps.

GORMAN: Pregnancy may contribute to vascular⁹ complications, or the stress of pregnancy may reveal problems that were already there.

BAIREY MERZ: We don't know which of these is true or even if both could be true.

GORMAN: Bairey Merz and others are trying to find out. So far, they're following about a hundred new moms, including Hogan, to understand the link between pregnancy problems and heart disease later in life. In another study, 5,000 new moms are being followed nationwide.

BAIREY MERZ: Eighty percent of women in the United States have at least one child. So if we can figure this out, we could make tremendous strides towards preventing heart disease in women.

GORMAN: Most women who've had pregnancy complications don't need to rush to the cardiologist, but they and their doctors do need to be aware of the risks later in life, says Barbara Levy¹⁰ of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

BARBARA LEVY: That is a huge issue, that women in their 40s or early 50s might see a cardiologist who is completely unaware¹¹ of her higher risk. So we've got a big advocacy and education piece that we should be doing together.

GORMAN: New mother Laura Hogan takes her blood pressure one morning at home. It's something doctors told her she needs to do regularly. The first time, it's too high. She takes a deep breath and tries again.

HOGAN: One-fifty-seven over 95. It's better, but that's still high.

GORMAN: Hogan says she's determined¹² to keep on top of her health.

HOGAN: As much as it's not fresh in my mind, and I don't want to be thinking about my future heart health or worrying about what's going to happen when I'm older, this, is, like, priority No. 1 for my health right now, is staying on top of my heart.

GORMAN: After all, Hogan says, she has a toddler to chase after. I'm Anna Gorman in Los Angeles.

MARTIN: And Anna Gorman is with our partner Kaiser Health News.

1 obesity   

n.肥胖，肥大

参考例句：

• One effect of overeating may be obesity.吃得过多能导致肥胖。
• Sugar and fat can more easily lead to obesity than some other foods.糖和脂肪比其他食物更容易导致肥胖。

2 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 canyon   

n.峡谷，溪谷

参考例句：

• The Grand Canyon in the USA is 1900 metres deep.美国的大峡谷1900米深。
• The canyon is famous for producing echoes.这个峡谷以回声而闻名。

5 prematurely   

adv.过早地，贸然地

参考例句：

• She was born prematurely with poorly developed lungs. 她早产，肺部未发育健全。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His hair was prematurely white, but his busy eyebrows were still jet-black. 他的头发已经白了，不过两道浓眉还是乌黑乌黑的。 来自辞典例句

6 spiked   

adj.有穗的；成锥形的；有尖顶的

参考例句：

• The editor spiked the story. 编辑删去了这篇报道。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They wondered whether their drinks had been spiked. 他们有些疑惑自己的饮料里是否被偷偷搀了烈性酒。 来自辞典例句

7 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

8 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。

9 vascular   

adj.血管的，脉管的

参考例句：

• The mechanism of this anomalous vascular response is unknown.此种不规则的血管反应的机制尚不清楚。
• The vascular changes interfere with diffusion of nutrients from plasma into adjacent perivascular tissue and cells.这些血管变化干扰了营养物质从血浆中向血管周围邻接的组织和细胞扩散。

10 levy   

n.征收税或其他款项，征收额

参考例句：

• They levy a tax on him.他们向他征税。
• A direct food levy was imposed by the local government.地方政府征收了食品税。

11 unaware   

a.不知道的，未意识到的

参考例句：

• They were unaware that war was near. 他们不知道战争即将爆发。
• I was unaware of the man's presence. 我没有察觉到那人在场。

12 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。