A Queen’s obstetrics professor has founded one of the first clinics in the world to use pregnancy and the postpartum as a key opportunity in a woman’s life to focus on disease prevention.

“This clinic is an extremely novel idea—no one else is doing this at present,” says Graeme Smith, who is also a practicing obstetrician at Kingston General Hospital (KGH).

Pregnancy is a stress test in that it can reveal underlying health issues in the mother that may indicate an increased risk of future heart disease. Around 20 per cent of expectant mothers experience at least one of six indicators during pregnancy including pre-eclampsia, high blood pressure, gestational diabetes, preterm birth, a growth restricted baby, or placental abruption leading to delivery. Read more...