Cardiovascular Risk Screening and Pregnancy Complications: A Comparison of Two Canadian Maternal Health Clinic Populations

ABSTRACT Objective This study compared pregnancy-related cardiovascular disease risk indicators between women who attended 2 different postpartum screening and education clinics: 1 at an urban tertiary care centre and 1 at a northern, rural community hospital. Risk differences associated with ethnicity were also examined. Methods We conducted a retrospective record review that compared data from an urban clinic in Kingston, Ontario (n = 675) with those from a rural clinic in Prince Rupert, British Columbia (n = 65). Patients who had a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy, gestational diabetes, intrauterine growth restriction, idiopathic preterm birth, or placental abruption attended the clinics at 6 months postpartum. Demographic information, personal and family history, physical examination findings, and laboratory results were collected and used to generate cardiovascular risk estimates using validated scoring systems. These estimates were compared between clinic populations and between ethnic subsets. Results Fifty-five percent of the Prince Rupert cohort were Indigenous, while 87% of the Kingston cohort were White (P Conclusion The increased cardiovascular disease risk in both rural and Indigenous women supports the need for better postpartum care, long-term follow-up, and early promotion of cardiovascular health in these populations.