A study has been published in the Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease about the possible risk of future heart disease when prenatal exposure to H1N1 occurs.

The study looked at 100,000 people born around the time of the United States influenza pandemic in 1918.  The men in this group who were born in 1919 were 17 percent more likely to have heart disease as adults.  Their mothers were in the second to third trimester during the height of the epidemic.  Even more interesting, men who were born in 1919 did not show the average height growth that men in previous and later years had.

Women born in the second quarter of 1919 were 17 percent more likely to have heart disease later in life.  However, those women born in the first quarter did not have an increased risk of future heart disease.  This may show a gender difference regarding how the virus attacks males vs. females.

Currently, more than 100 women have been hospitalized due to the H1N1 virus.  Furthermore, twenty eight pregnant women have died.  It is recommended that pregnant women get the H1N1 vaccination, but not the nasal spray.  Looking back to the 1918 flu pandemic, there are signs that even mild maternal flu cases may result in long lasting health problems for their children later in life.

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