Condoms Should Include ‘Heart Attack Risk With That Pregnancy’ On Wrappers
Healthy women who choose to carry babies are putting themselves at risk for a lot of factors. A complicated pregnancy could loom as does the array of standard risks that come with childbirth or even a c-section. But simply by carrying a child, soon-to-be mommies are putting themselves at an admittedly low risk for more “severe” heart attacks, which doesn’t completely disappear until 12 weeks after birth.
Can you imagine squeezing all of that on the side of a condom? In case of malfunction? Perhaps even more adults would know how use condoms properly.
Reuters reports that even though the risk of having a heart attack is small for pregnant woman (just one in every 16,000 deliveries), the odds are still three to four times higher for them versus non-pregnant women of the same age. These heart attacks are apparently wrought with more complications, as these ladies aren’t having heart attacks for the same reasons as the non-pregnant populations. Physiological and hormonal changes, along with increased blood volume cause pregnant women to develop a different condition:
The more common reason pregnant women had a heart attack was a condition called coronary dissection, a separation of the layers of the artery wall that blocks blood flow. They said this condition is very rare among non-pregnant patients.
Many of these pregnant women have not been diagnosed with traditional heart problems like high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes. But pregnant heart attacks have a reported death rate that is two to three times higher than that of non-pregnant women the same age, making this a risk that many women should be aware of, consider, and acknowledge before expanding their families. And for the childless, perhaps state more boldly on the side panel with that 90%-ish success rate.
(photo: Lorelyn Medina/Shutterstock)