A new research study reports that a serious medical condition that develops in some pregnant women may also be a sign of future heart disease.
The condition is known as preeclampsia, a hypertension condition in pregnant women that is accompanied by the presence of protein in one's urine.
The presence of preeclampsia can cause serious problems in a pregnancy, including giving birth prematurely or having an underweight baby.
The condition develops in thousands of women and in severe cases can cause death to either mother or child.
Graeme Smith, the Kingston, Ont., doctor who led the research study, recently told CTV News that preeclampsia can also be a telltale sign that a woman is at risk of future heart problems.
"We have perhaps identified the earliest factor that identifies a woman who is at risk of cardiovascular disease," Smith said in a recent interview.
He said the pregnant women who took part in the study were heavier, had higher blood pressure and elevated levels of cholesterol than those who didn't have the condition and they had these same problems even a year after giving birth.
These problems, Smith said, double or triple a woman's risk of heart disease - including suffering heart attacks or strokes.
More than 350 women took part in the study, all of whom lived within 50 km of two hospitals in Kingston and Ottawa.
And most of the women who developed preeclampsia had no idea they could be at risk.
"A lot of the women in our study who we found had cardiovascular risk factors, these were undiagnosed," Smith told CTV News. "So by one year after delivery we have uncovered risk factors that if they weren't picked up for years would have potential significant risk."
Leanne Deodato is one of those women who has benefited from what these doctors have learned from the study.
After developing the condition during her pregnancy, she is being checked regularly for signs of heart disease.
"I feel very blessed and fortunate that they found it," she told CTV News.
With a report from CTV's medical specialist Avis Favaro and senior producer Elizabeth St. Philip
