Women Seek Holistic Interventions for Improving Health Outcomes

In order to reduce cardiometabolic risk during and after pregnancy, women reported the desire for a holistic intervention, according to a study published in Patient Education and Counseling.¹ Women also expressed a desire for providers of the same sex to provide the intervention, which was co-designed by key stakeholders and focused on nutrition, mental health, and physical activity.

“Cardiometabolic pregnancy complications, including gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP), are prevalent pregnancy complications underpinned by cardiometabolic mechanisms,” wrote authors of the study. “They adversely affect maternal and neonatal health during pregnancy and increase women’s risk of future type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and cardiovascular disease (CVD).”

Complications surrounding CVD and pregnancy have been significantly reported and are prominent across many populations. According to the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, CVD is the leading cause of premature death among Canadian women. With specific mechanisms occurring among women during pregnancy, the maternal population is often immediately flagged for potential CVD risks and complications following their pregnancy.²

In the US, tackling this relationship between CVD and pregnancy is crucial, with pregnancy-related deaths increasing by 140% in the last 30 years, according to the American Heart Association.³

READ MORE: Behavioral Medicine May Address Women’s Cardiovascular Health Needs

There is also additional evidence regarding lactation following pregnancy and its ability to reduce CVD risk.⁴ However, US breastfeeding rates are considerably low, highlighting a further need to improve CVD-related outcomes among pregnant patients and new mothers.

“Co-design offers the opportunity to design lifestyle interventions adapted to suit end-users in the hope of increasing uptake, engagement, implementation success, and sustainability. Co-design considers end-users’ needs, preferences, characteristics, and abilities throughout the entire design process,” continued the authors.¹ “This pre-implementation qualitative study aims to explore key stakeholders’ perspectives and co-design the design, content, and delivery of a lifestyle intervention to optimize cardiometabolic health during and after pregnancy for women at risk of or diagnosed with GDM and/or HDP.”

In an exploration of what the authors refer to as “key stakeholder” individuals, researchers wanted to uncover perspectives toward a co-designed lifestyle intervention for the optimization of CVD health.

Pertinent to the context of this study, co-design is a unique way of establishing health care interventions with opinions from the optimal number of experts and stakeholders. According to Frontiers in Clinical Diabetes and Healthcare,⁵ “co-design is defined as a problem-solving method that engages stakeholders in the process of development and the implementation of solutions.”

Indeed, through co-design workshops and interviews with the aforementioned stakeholders in women’s health, researchers conducted a pre-implementation qualitative study and explored stakeholder perspectives on the lifestyle intervention.

The final analysis included 11 women (mean age, 39.4 years; 72.7% with T2DM) with previous cardiometabolic pregnancy complications and 13 research partners (mean age, 43.6 years; 84.6% women).¹

After the co-design process and interviews with study participants, researchers reported on the various themes uncovered and the population-wide preferences among women for their desired lifestyle intervention. More specifically, they separated research themes by the why, what, who, how, where, and when of participant preferences. In other words, researchers captured every aspect of what patients want out of the intervention.

“Participants reported liking that the intervention fills a health care gap and highlighted the importance of a holistic, user-friendly, patient-centered, culturally diverse approach to intervention design, content, and delivery,” they wrote.¹ “Delivery by female health care professionals who utilize good risk communication skills [and] display empathy and understanding was recommended to empower and support women with the knowledge, resources, and skills to take ownership of their health and reduce cardiometabolic risks.”

As the authors stated, patient-centered interventions that focus on the whole patient and are administered by women are the preferred co-design for improving CVD outcomes after or during pregnancy.

While the intervention itself has yet to be designed or implemented, researchers hope that the study findings can further encourage the creation of a future approach to improving the aforementioned outcomes. As more evidence is gathered and researchers find new ways to improve CVD outcomes, they will continue to promote the use of holistic interventions that women prefer.

“Women reported wanting a holistic intervention, with content on nutrition, physical activity, and mental health, provided by female health care professionals with expertise in pregnancy, postpartum, and cardiometabolic conditions,” concluded authors of the study.¹ “The findings highlight the importance of an inclusive, empathetic, culturally sensitive, patient-centered intervention design.”

READ MORE: Women’s Health Resource Center

Ready to impress your pharmacy colleagues with the latest drug information, industry trends, and patient care tips? Sign up today for our free Drug Topics newsletter.

REFERENCES

1. Osei-Safo EK, Melder A, Taylor F, et al. Designing a lifestyle intervention to optimise cardiometabolic health in high-risk prenatal and postnatal women: a pre-implementation study. Patient Educ Couns. 2025;143:109422. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2025.109422

2. Fisher M, Smith G, Potter BK, et al. The association between pregnancy complications and long-term maternal cardiometabolic health in the MIREC cohort study. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2025;110(10):2879-2891. https://doi.org/10.1210/clinem/dgaf041

3. Advancing postpartum systems of care initiative. American Heart Association. Accessed December 10, 2025. https://www.heart.org/en/professional/quality-improvement/maternal-health

4. Nunez-Pellot C, Akers A, Običan S, et al. Lactation safety of cardiovascular medications. Am Heart J Plus. 2025;55:100552. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ahjo.2025.100552

5. Pike JM, Haberlin-Pittz KM, Alharbi BS, et al. A co-designed, community-based intensive health behavior intervention promotes participation and engagement in youth with risk factors for type 2 diabetes. Front Clin Diabetes Healthc. 2023 Dec 1;4:1264312. doi: 10.3389/fcdhc.2023.1264312.