Association of ideal cardiovascular health and history of gestational diabetes mellitus in NHANES 2007–2018

Background

Population-based studies of ideal cardiovascular health (CVH) and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) are scarce.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 2007–2018 National Health Examination and Nutrition Survey women aged ≥ 20 years, who had data on Life’s Simple 7 (LS7) metrics and self-reported GDM history. Each LS7 metric was assigned a score of 0 (non-ideal) and 1(ideal) and summed to obtain total ideal CVH scores (0–7). We used logistic regression models to assess associations between LS7 ideal CVH scores (0–7) and GDM history, accounting for socio-demographic factors.

Results

Among 9199 women (mean age: 46 years, 8 % with a GDM history), there was a progressive decrease in the odds of past GDM history across increasing ideal CVH scores. Compared to females with 0–1 ideal CVH scores, females with ideal CVH scores of 3, 4 and 5–7 had an associated 39 % lower [odds ratio: 0.61 (95 % CI: 0.41–0.90)], 50 % lower [0.50 (0.33–0.76)] and 66 % lower [0.34 (0.20–0.56)] odds of past GDM history, respectively. There were notable racial/ethnic and citizenship/nativity differences in these associations.

Conclusions

Women with higher ideal CVH scores had lower odds of GDM history. Our findings underscore the importance of optimizing cardiometabolic health among women with GDM history.