Pre-eclampsia and risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer in later life: systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To quantify the risk of future cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and mortality after pre-eclampsia. DESIGN: Systematic review and meta-analysis. DATA SOURCES: Embase and Medline without language restrictions, including papers published between 1960 and December 2006, and hand searching of reference lists of relevant articles and reviews for additional reports. REVIEW METHODS: Prospective and retrospective cohort studies were included, providing a dataset of 3,488,160 women, with 198,252 affected by pre-eclampsia (exposure group) and 29,495 episodes of cardiovascular disease and cancer (study outcomes). RESULTS: After pre-eclampsia women have an increased risk of vascular disease. The relative risks (95% confidence intervals) for hypertension were 3.70 (2.70 to 5.05) after 14.1 ye