Living in a disadvantaged neighborhood contributes to a rare form of heart failure known as peripartum cardiomyopathy^[1], a potentially deadly disease^[2] that disproportionately affects Black mothers.

That’s the key finding of my recent study^[3], published in February 2025 in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Peripartum cardiomyopathy can occur in pregnant or postpartum mothers during late pregnancy up to five months...