Effectiveness of a nurse practitioner-led cardiovascular prevention clinic at reduction of metabolic syndrome following maternal complications of pregnancy: a preliminary analysis
Open accessAbstract
AIM: Maternal complications of pregnancy, including hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, gestational diabetes mellitus, intrauterine growth restriction, preterm labour, and placental abruption, are associated with increased risk of future cardiometabolic disease. Lifestyle interventions that focus on preventative strategies for this young, high-risk population of women may assist in cardiometabolic disease risk reduction. The aim of this preliminary registry analysis was to observe the change in maternal metabolic syndrome status after receiving a nurse practitioner-led lifestyle intervention delivered soon after a complicated pregnancy. METHOD: This preliminary analysis included 64 eligible women who had attended both baseline (approximately 6 months postpartum) and review (approximately eighteen months postpartum) appointments at the postpartum lifestyle clinic after an index pregnancy complicated by at least one maternal complication of pregnancy. Metabolic syndrome status at both appointments was assessed. RESULTS: At the baseline appointment, 22 (34.4%) women met the criteria for metabolic syndrome. This number reduced at the review appointment to 19 (29.7%). This difference was not statistically significant. There were some modest improvements in the individual cardiometabolic risk factors, as well as marked improvements in the women who had recovered from metabolic syndrome over twelve months. CONCLUSION: There was a high percentage of metabolic syndrome present early in the postpartum period. The results of this preliminary analysis highlight the importance of continuing preventative care and ongoing research for this group of high-risk women.
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Several non-randomized or pilot studies included in the review relied heavily on self-reported outcomes.
“Several non-randomized or pilot studies had small sample sizes, lacked a concurrent comparison group, or relied heavily on self-reported outcomes (Aldridge et al., 2022; Avignon et al., 2025; Russell, 2025; Szajna et al., 2024).”
From Extending the continuum: Mapping post-6-week nurse/midwife-led interventions for postnatal women – A scoping review (2026) · cites this paper as Aldridge et al., 2022
The Limitations section describes this as a preliminary study with a small sample and no control group, supporting those parts of the citing sentence. The Methods sections say some variables came from patient self-report, but the primary metabolic-syndrome outcome used measured clinical risk factors; the paper does not support saying its outcomes relied heavily on self-report. No page numbers are available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.87)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredSeveral non-randomized or pilot studies included in the review lacked a concurrent comparison group.
“Several non-randomized or pilot studies had small sample sizes, lacked a concurrent comparison group, or relied heavily on self-reported outcomes (Aldridge et al., 2022; Avignon et al., 2025; Russell, 2025; Szajna et al., 2024).”
From Extending the continuum: Mapping post-6-week nurse/midwife-led interventions for postnatal women – A scoping review (2026) · cites this paper as Aldridge et al., 2022
Several non-randomized or pilot studies included in the review had small sample sizes.
“Several non-randomized or pilot studies had small sample sizes, lacked a concurrent comparison group, or relied heavily on self-reported outcomes (Aldridge et al., 2022; Avignon et al., 2025; Russell, 2025; Szajna et al., 2024).”
From Extending the continuum: Mapping post-6-week nurse/midwife-led interventions for postnatal women – A scoping review (2026) · cites this paper as Aldridge et al., 2022
In the nurse practitioner-led postpartum lifestyle clinic, the prevalence of metabolic syndrome declined from 34.4% to 29.7%, but this change was not statistically significant.
“The prevalence of metabolic syndrome declined from 34.4% to 29.7%; however, this change was not statistically significant.”
From Extending the continuum: Mapping post-6-week nurse/midwife-led interventions for postnatal women – A scoping review (2026) · cites this paper as Aldridge et al. (2022)
The nurse practitioner-led lifestyle clinic reported modest cardiometabolic improvements.
“The nurse practitioner-led lifestyle clinic reported modest cardiometabolic improvements”
From Extending the continuum: Mapping post-6-week nurse/midwife-led interventions for postnatal women – A scoping review (2026) · cites this paper as Aldridge et al., 2022
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- Authors
- Aldridge, E., Pathirana, M., Wittwer, M., Sierp, S., Leemaqz, S. Y., Roberts, C. T., Dekker, G. A., & Arstall, M. A.
- Affiliations
- The University of Adelaide (AU)
- Flinders University (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Aldridge, Emily
- ORCID
- Venue
- Diabetology & Metabolic Syndrome
- Published
- 2022-10-06
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 144-144
- ISSN
- 1758-5996 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC9535230
- OpenAlex
- W4302288212
- Cited by
- 6
- References
- 42
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 1
- FWCI
- 0.75
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Diabetology & Metabolic Syndrome (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Adelaide Research & Scholarship (AR&S) (University of Adelaide) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Hospital Research Foundation (2018/006-QA25232)
- National Health and Medical Research Council (GNT1174971)
- Flinders University (Matthew Flinders Fellowship)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Obstetrics and Gynecology › Gestational Diabetes Research and Management
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Diabetes, Cardiovascular Risks, and Lipoproteins
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Obstetrics and Gynecology › Pregnancy and preeclampsia studies
- Keywords
- metabolic syndrome, pregnancy complications, nurse practitioner-led clinic, lifestyle intervention, postpartum care, cardiometabolic risk, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, gestational diabetes mellitus, fetal growth restriction, placental abruption, cardiovascular disease prevention
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