Associated organisationsImperial College London · King's College London · St George's, University of London · University College London · University of Bristol · University of Cambridge · University of GlasgowEurope PMC affiliations are not treated as award recipients or mapped locations.
Funding£4.1M
PeriodJun 2021 — May 2026
In plain English
AI plain-English summary
Pregnant women who develop pre-eclampsia or high blood pressure are twice as likely to develop heart disease or diabetes later in life, but doctors do not know whether the pregnancy complication itself causes the damage or whether these women were already on an unhealthy trajectory before they conceived. The POPPY study will track first-time mothers before they become pregnant, through their pregnancy, and after they give birth. Researchers will measure blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, and other markers of cardiometabolic health at each stage. By comparing women who develop placental syndromes with those who do not, the team can determine whether the pregnancy complication independently worsens long-term health or whether pre-existing risk factors are the real culprit. If placental syndromes directly harm maternal health, the findings would support targeting heart-disease prevention specifically at women who have had complicated pregnancies. If pre-pregnancy health is more important, the focus should shift to improving young women’s cardiometabolic fitness before they ever conceive. Either way, the results will tell future trials exactly when and where to intervene to cut the burden of diabetes and cardiovascular disease in women.
View original technical description
The clinical manifestations of placental dysfunction include pre-eclampsia, gestational hypertension and fetal growth restriction. Women who experience placental dysfunction have a two-fold risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and diabetes in later life compared to women with uncomplicated pregnancies. However, it is unclear whether placental syndromes have a direct adverse effect on cardiometabolic health, whether a healthy pregnancy is protective, or whether women who experience a placental syndrome simply had poorer cardiometabolic health prior to pregnancy. If placental syndromes do lead to CVD and diabetes independently of established cardiometabolic risk factors (e.g. by causing end organ damage), a focus on CVD/diabetes prevention in this high-risk group of women is likely to reduce the burden of these diseases. Conversely, if pre-pregnancy factors are more important, improving cardiometabolic health in young women prior to conception is key and could reduce the incidence of placental syndromes. We plan to assess cardiometabolic risk factors and validated intermediate phenotypes of CVD/diabetes before conception, during pregnancy, and post-partum to determine whether placental syndromes affect post-partum maternal cardiometabolic health independently of pre-conception cardiometabolic health. This will help to determine the optimal timing and nature of prevention strategies to reduce the burden of diabetes/CVD in women, in future trials.
Plain English summaries and category classifications on this site are generated by AI and may not perfectly reflect the original research.
Is something wrong? Let us know