19 Feb 2026 • Pregnancy may do more than signal fetal health, it could reveal a woman’s future cardiovascular risk decades in advance, new research suggests.

In a large study tracking over 38,000 pregnancies, specific biomarkers measured during pregnancy showed potential to predict long-term cardiovascular disease risk.

Women with higher third-trimester levels of high-sensitivity troponin I and soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 (sFlt-1) were significantly more likely to develop heart disease over nearly 12 years of follow-up.

Importantly, incorporating sFlt-1 levels alongside age improved prediction of future cardiovascular events, outperforming traditional clinical risk factors such as blood pressure and cholesterol.

The findings strengthen the concept of pregnancy as a natural cardiovascular stress test, one that could enable earlier, sex-specific risk assessment and preventive care.

If validated further, routine pregnancy biomarker testing could help clinicians identify high-risk women early and shift cardiovascular prevention strategies much earlier in life.

Source: JAMA | Read full story