Pediatrics

E-mail: angela.yetman@intermountainmail.org
Address: 100 N. Medical Drive
Phone: 662-5472

Pregnancy in Woman With Repaired Congenital Heart Disease

Background:  Pregnancy in woman with repaired congenital heart disease may be associated with a deterioration in the mother’s clinical status, as well as an increased incidence of adverse fetal outcomes including, miscarriage, stillbirth, prematurity and congenital cardiac defects.  The literature assessing these risks is largely confined to women whom have had 1 or 2 pregnancies.  There is no data looking at the effect of multiparity on maternal and fetal health in woman with repaired congenital heart defects.  From the general obstetrical literature, we know that there is an optimal time interval between births and that a shorter interval may be detrimental to maternal health.  Multiparity in woman with repaired congenital heart defects in Utah, is common.  We wish to assess the maternal and fetal outcomes of pregnancy in woman with repaired congenital heart disease who have experienced more than one pregnancy. 

Methodology:  Retrospective chart review of all women followed in the combined PCMC/University of Utah adult congenital cardiology clinic will be performed.  The following data will be recorded:  patients’ cardiac diagnoses, number of pregnancies, maternal age at all pregnancies, interval between pregnancies, outcome of all pregnancies, gestational age of all live births, weight of all live births, presence or absence of congenital heart disease in offspring, need for peripartum hospitalization, need for peripartum cardiac medication, NYHA classification at onset and completion of pregnancy, need for cardiac interventions during pregnancy. Data will be extracted from the patients’ charts and recorded in a database which will then be de-identified.  Statistical analysis will be performed including descriptive statistics of patient demographics including number of pregnancies, number of live births, preterm births and miscarriages, mean interval between pregnancies and incidence of congenital heart defects in offspring.  The relationship between inter-pregnancy interval and maternal and fetal outcomes will be assessed.

1/2008