ABSTRACT
Women's reproductive health is intimately linked with their overall physical and mental health. The vitality and performance of women's reproductive axis—as revealed in patterns of menstruation, fertility, and pregnancy—yield important information about subclinical disease trajectories. Globally, one of three women dies from cardiovascular disease (CVD). In response to the growing appreciation that many preventive efforts start too late to be effective, there has been a call for "primordial prevention"—prevention of the major CVD risk factors themselves. Investigation of the association between number of children and paternal CVD risk has helped in gaining a better understanding of the parity associated with maternal CVD risk. Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy are common obstetric complications that presage CVD. First-trimester bleeding is common in pregnancy, with an incidence up to 20%–27%, and for about half of these women, the pregnancy will end in miscarriage. The reproductive health of women provides glimpses into subclinical processes and their future risk of chronic disease.
