PREGNANCY HISTORY IS HEART HISTORY. / SOURCES

Evidence checked October 26, 2026

Clear guidance.
Visible sources.

This campaign translates established guidance into questions families can take to their clinicians. It does not replace individualized care or calculate a new cardiovascular risk score.

Mortality data & definitions

  1. America’s Health Rankings: New Jersey maternal mortality

    2020–2024 five-year estimate: rank 28, 24.8 deaths per 100,000 live births. This measure covers pregnancy through 42 days after its end; it is not a ranking of postpartum-only deaths. Rank 1 is lowest mortality; 47 states have ranks.

  2. NJ Department of Health: updated maternal data, January 16, 2026

    2019–2023 review: cardiovascular conditions and COVID-19 each 19.4% of pregnancy-related deaths; other infections 15.3%; 86.7% judged preventable. Pregnancy-related deaths include pregnancy through one year afterward. The release identifies 258 pregnancy-associated deaths from all causes, a different denominator.

  3. New Jersey Maternal Mortality Report 2019–2021, published 2026

    Table 3, page 12: 61 pregnancy-related deaths, including 6 cardiovascular conditions and 5 cardiomyopathy. Combined 11/61 = 18.0%, calculated for this briefing. These are older exact counts, not the 2019–2023 total and not postpartum-only counts.

  4. CDC MMRC dashboard, released April 20, 2026

    With 2022 selected: 807 reviewed pregnancy-related deaths; 305 (37.8%) occurred 43–365 days postpartum. Cardiovascular conditions: 129, including 54 cardiomyopathy, or 16.6% of 779 deaths with known cause. Mental health conditions: 216 (27.7%). Missing or unknown causes (28) are excluded from cause percentages. Participating committees do not represent a complete count of every US death.

  5. National Academies: Protecting Maternal Heart Health, 2026

    A national consensus report connecting prevention and cardiovascular care before, during, and after pregnancy. Education must be accompanied by clinical follow-up and systems capable of responding.

Do not combine ranking, review counts, and percentages into a single trend: the time windows, years, populations, and definitions differ. Review findings about preventability do not prove this campaign’s effectiveness.

Pregnancy & follow-up

  1. ACOG: Optimizing Postpartum Care, Committee Opinion 736

    Postpartum contact within 3 weeks; comprehensive assessment by 12 weeks; earlier blood-pressure evaluation after hypertensive pregnancy disorders.

  2. ACOG: Preeclampsia and High Blood Pressure During Pregnancy

    Blood pressure can rise after birth. Follow the care team’s home-monitoring and treatment instructions.

  3. American Heart Association: Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes and Cardiovascular Disease Risk, 2021

    Pregnancy complications can identify a need for cardiovascular prevention and continuity of care. Associations do not establish an individual’s absolute risk.

  4. NIH: Gestational Diabetes Mellitus research overview

    Postpartum glucose testing at 4–12 weeks and ongoing screening every 1–3 years after gestational diabetes.

  5. CDC Hear Her: Urgent Maternal Warning Signs

    Recognize serious symptoms during pregnancy and up to one year afterward. Seek prompt medical care; this campaign lists examples and links to the complete resource.

Feeding & medicines

  1. SMFM: Postpartum Preeclampsia and Breastfeeding

    Medically reviewed information about lactation, prematurity, and medication discussions. Specific treatments require individual review.

  2. Preeclampsia Foundation: Breastfeeding After Preeclampsia

    Education about delayed milk production and the challenges of complicated pregnancy and NICU separation.

  3. NIH LactMed: Drugs and Lactation Database

    Drug-specific information for clinician and pharmacist review. Do not assume all drugs in a class have identical effects on milk supply or infant exposure.

Midlife & international education

  1. AHA / Go Red for Women: Menopause and Cardiovascular Risk

    Age, menopause timing, hormonal changes, cholesterol, body composition, and other factors belong in the clinical discussion. Menopause does not give every woman the same risk, and pregnancy history does not create a fixed added risk multiplier.

  2. AHA scientific statement: Menopause Transition and Cardiovascular Disease Risk, 2020

    The transition is a prevention opportunity. The campaign does not recommend hormone therapy as cardiovascular prevention or calculate added risk from hormonal change.

  3. Heart Foundation Australia: women’s heart health through the life course

    A visual education example connecting pregnancy and menopause. Australian clinical eligibility and emergency-number instructions are not copied into the US handout.

  4. Heart & Stroke Canada: women’s risk factors

    Life-stage organization provides a useful model for keeping past pregnancy history relevant in later care.

  5. QRISK3 official demonstrator and development-paper link

    Age range, predictors, intended population, and limitations. The campaign does not embed or calculate QRISK3 scores.

See the breast-cancer and international campaign review →

Risk tools & research

  1. American Heart Association: About PREVENT

    US-derived cardiovascular, kidney, and metabolic risk assessment. The equation’s absence of a direct pregnancy-history input does not mean clinical guidelines ignore pregnancy history.

  2. AHA PREVENT clinician FAQ

    Eligibility, equation inputs, limitations, and PREVENT-Age. Risk age is a communication of modeled risk, not measured biological age.

  3. Hippisley-Cox et al. QR4 development and validation. Nature Medicine, 2024.

    UK model including preeclampsia and postnatal depression. It is inaccurate to claim that no cardiovascular risk model includes pregnancy-related factors.

  4. NICE NG238: Cardiovascular risk assessment recommendations

    Recommendations specify QRISK3 for the relevant UK primary-prevention population; QR4 research should not be confused with routine nationwide adoption.

  5. Wambua et al. Postpartum cardiovascular risk prediction. BMC Medicine, 2025.

    Evaluated adding reproductive and pregnancy factors to a model using QRISK3 predictors. Overall gains were modest, with differences in selected subgroups and clinical-utility measures. This is not validation of HEART RESERVE or a PREVENT extension.

Campaigns & local connections

  1. AWHONN POST-BIRTH Warning Signs Education Program

    Clinician education and standardized postpartum safety teaching.

  2. Family Connects NJ

    New Jersey nurse home visiting and family support. Confirm local eligibility and timing directly with the program.

Clinical review, accessibility review, parent feedback, and language adaptation should precede institutional patient distribution. This demonstration has no health-data submission, analytics, or remote-monitoring function. It is not a validated risk calculator.

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NEW JERSEY CARE, COVERAGE & EVIDENCE

What already works. What comes next.

Explore NJ FamilyCare, Family Connects NJ, the Rutgers postpartum blood-pressure study, insurance coverage and lessons from other states and countries.

See the evidence and improvement plan ↗