Women With Multiple Long-Term Conditions Face Higher Pregnancy Risk: Study - Video

Women who enter pregnancy with two or more long-term physical or mental health conditions face significantly higher risks of several pregnancy complications, according to a large UK study led by researchers including King’s College London.

The study, published in The Lancet Public Health, analyzed more than 2.2 million pregnancies and birth events recorded between 2000 and 2022 across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Compared with women without long-term health conditions, those with multiple conditions had a 20% higher risk of miscarriage and a 69% higher risk of severe nausea and vomiting during pregnancy. They also had nearly four times the risk of antenatal anxiety and depression.

The risks extended to serious physical complications. Women with multiple long-term conditions had more than double the risk of venous thromboembolism, a potentially dangerous blood clot that can occur as deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism. They also had a 42% higher risk of pre-eclampsia, a pregnancy complication involving high blood pressure.

Researchers found that risk generally increased as the number of long-term conditions increased. Among women with three or more conditions, the risk of venous thromboembolism was more than 3.5 times higher than among women without long-term conditions.

Multiple conditions were also associated with a 32% higher risk of placental abruption, in which the placenta separates from the womb before birth, and a 26% higher risk of gestational diabetes.

Around one in five pregnant women is estimated to live with multiple long-term conditions. Researchers say maternity services, however, are often organized around individual diseases rather than the combined physical and mental health needs of the patient.

The researchers argue that multiple long-term conditions should be recognized as a risk factor in their own right during pregnancy. They recommend identifying these women early in pregnancy and coordinating obstetric, primary care and mental health services around their individual needs.

However, the study was observational and relied on routinely collected health records, meaning some conditions or pregnancy outcomes may have been under-recorded. The findings show associations and do not prove that having multiple conditions directly causes these complications.

REFERENCE: Kent, L., et al. (2026). Antenatal outcomes for women with multiple long-term conditions in pregnancy: a UK-wide retrospective cohort study. The Lancet Public Health. DOI: 10.1016/s2468-2667(26)00148-9.