Deborah Lawlor is the BHF Professor of Cardiovascular Science and Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Bristol
Professor Deborah Lawlor and her team are investigating the links between ethnicity, genetics and health during pregnancy on the long-term cardiovascular health of mothers and children.
Risk factors for heart and circulatory diseases
Professor Lawlor’s research focuses on the causes of poor cardiovascular health in pregnancy and the effect this has on the future cardiovascular health of mothers, their children, and future generations of their families.
Heart and circulatory diseases are responsible for more than 160,000 deaths in the UK each year. Evidence shows that someone’s ethnicity influences their risk of developing heart and circulatory diseases. British South Asians are more likely to develop coronary heart disease – the underlying cause of most heart attacks – and type 2 diabetes than people from a White European background.
It’s currently unclear how factors such as socioeconomic background, environment, lifestyle, genetics and biology interact to cause these devastating conditions. Increasing our understanding of the factors that drive the development of heart and circulatory diseases is essential to improving our ability to prevent and treat them. This is what Professor Lawlor’s research aims to do.
Ethnicity and health during pregnancy
Professor Lawlor’s previous research has revealed differences between women from South Asian and White European backgrounds during pregnancy. South Asian women have higher glucose (blood sugar) levels and are more likely to develop gestational diabetes, but women from a White European background have higher cholesterol (a fatty substance found in the blood).
Professor Lawlor and her team will assess the genetics and health of pregnant British South Asian and White European women to determine how these influence their children’s future cardiovascular health and fitness. This will help to improve our understanding of the differences between the two populations and may offer new ways to identify people at risk of developing heart and circulatory disease.
Placental health and cardiovascular disease
The placenta develops during pregnancy and allows nutrients and waste products to pass between the maternal and foetal circulation. The placenta is essential for normal growth and development, but evidence suggests that problems with it could influence the future cardiovascular health of mother and child.
Professor Lawlor will use data from a long-running study which has followed pregnant women and their children as they grow up. Her team will study the molecular make up of 1000 placentas from pregnant women who participated in the study and compare the results to data collected from their families over many years.
By doing this they hope to identify any molecular warning signs that could signal that a pregnancy is at risk, or that a mother or child is at greater risk of poor health in the future. These insights could enable doctors to step in to protect women and children from immediate and longer-term health issues at this early stage.
Find out more about our research into risk factors