Association of Ideal Cardiovascular Health and History of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus in NHANES 2007-2018

Background: Population-based studies of ideal cardiovascular health (CVH) and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) are scarce.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 2007-2018 National Health Examination and Nutrition Survey women aged ≥ 20 years, who had data on Life's Simple 7 (LS7) metrics and self-reported GDM history. Each LS7 metric was assigned a score of 0 (non-ideal) and 1(ideal) and summed to obtain total ideal CVH scores (0-7). We used logistic regression models to assess associations between LS7 ideal CVH scores (0-7) and GDM history, accounting for socio-demographic factors.

Results: Among 9199 women (mean age: 46 years, 8 % with a GDM history), there was a progressive decrease in the odds of past GDM history across increasing ideal CVH scores. Compared to females with 0-1 ideal CVH scores, females with ideal CVH scores of 3, 4 and 5-7 had an associated 39 % lower [odds ratio: 0.61 (95 % CI: 0.41-0.90)], 50 % lower [0.50 (0.33-0.76)] and 66 % lower [0.34 (0.20-0.56)] odds of past GDM history, respectively. There were notable racial/ethnic and citizenship/nativity differences in these associations.

Conclusions: Women with higher ideal CVH scores had lower odds of GDM history. Our findings underscore the importance of optimizing cardiometabolic health among women with GDM history.