(NewsNation) — A new Northwestern Medicine study found obesity before or during early pregnancy is the root cause of increased risks for future cardiovascular disease. While pregnancy complications can increase these risks in obese women, the study reveals these complications are just indicators of preexisting risk factors.

The study, which was published in the Circulation Research journal, was looking to see if obesity or pregnancy complications were the root cause of future cardiovascular disease.

Researchers discovered that pregnancy complications just unmasked the risks that were already there prior to pregnancy due to the stress pregnancy complications can cause on the human body.

“We demonstrate, for the first time, that adverse pregnancy outcomes are primarily indicators—and not the root cause—of future heart health,” corresponding author Dr. Sadiya Khan, the Magerstadt Professor of Cardiovascular Epidemiology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a Northwestern Medicine physician, told Medical Xpress. “This means that pregnancy just reveals the risk for heart disease that is already there.”

The goal of the study was to find the root cause so that doctors could find solutions to prevent pregnant women from increased cardiovascular disease risks. It was determined that obesity intervention before pregnancy is key in preventing cardiovascular disease, Medical Xpress reported.