Cardiovascular health in pregnancy according to Life’s Essential 8 score

Abstract Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of mortality among pregnant women in the United States (US). This study assessed cardiovascular health (CVH) using the Life’s Essential 8 (LE8) score, which includes sleep, in a nationally representative sample of pregnant women aged 20–44 years without CVD using the 2011–2020 NHANES data. The cohort included an estimated 1.6 million pregnant and 34.5 million non-pregnant women. Pregnant women had lower mean LE8 scores [69.3(1.2) vs. 72.3(0.4)], physical activity [42.7(3.9) vs. 56.2(1.3)], blood lipids [61.8(3.4) vs. 79.4(0.6)], BMI [54.4(3.2) vs. 60.5(1.0)], and diet [43.7(2.5) vs. 43.8(0.7)] than non-pregnant women. They were 51% less likely to have ideal CVH [OR adj : 0.49 (95%CI: 0.31–0.77)]. The mean LE8 score in pregnant women was 71.0 (2.2) in 2011–2012 and 66.4 (1.5) in 2017–2020.