Background: Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy have lifelong implications on maternal cardiovascular health. Breastfeeding has a variety of maternal benefits, including improved lifelong maternal cardiovascular outcomes, with longer periods of lactation resulting in further improvement. Women with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy encounter many barriers to breastfeeding. Little is known about lactation initiation and duration rates in women with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. The purpose of this study is to describe lactation patterns in women with HDP, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, compared to normotensive controls using data from the phase 7 Illinois Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS).
Subjects and methods: Illinois PRAMS 2012-2015 (Phase 7) data was used to assess lactation patterns as well as rationale for not initiating breastfeeding or earlier cessation. Women who delivered during this time period were eligible to participate in the PRAMS survey, 5285 were included the analysis.
Results: Overall, 17.6% of all women in the study reported their healthcare provider did not speak with them prenatally about breastfeeding. Women who reported they had HDP, were significantly less likely (p ≤ 0.001) to ever breastfeed or pump breast milk to feed their baby, even for a short period, than those women without an HDP. At the time the PRAMS survey was completed, more women without an HDP were still breastfeeding or providing their baby with pumped milk (54.9 v. 48%; p = 0.002). More women with HDP reported stopping breastfeeding because they got sick or had to stop for medical reasons (p = 0.002) and/or because their baby was jaundiced (p = 0.007).
Conclusion: Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death among women and women with a history of HDP are at increased risk for cardiovascular related morbidity and mortality. Obstetrical providers and nurses caring for this high-risk population should ensure they educate women about the increased cardiovascular risk associated with HDP and the maternal cardiovascular benefits associated with lactation in order to promote and support lactation in this population of women.
Keywords: Breastfeeding; Cardiovascular disease; Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy; Lactation; Preeclampsia; Pregnancy risk assessment monitoring system (PRAMS).