Maternal Deaths and Heart Disease

[Lilnurse0803, RN]

Below please find a link from AWHONN with regards to an alarming issue not commonly assessed for in pregnant and postpartum women:

"According to a new report out of CA, the number of maternal deaths in the state has doubled in recent years, mirroring a disturbing trend nationwide. The investigation uncovered something else: the largest proportion of pregnancy-related deaths, about 1 in 5, appears to be caused by heart disease, including cardiomyopathy. Would you recognize the presentation of this deadly cardiac problem?"

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/06/20/heart-disease-poses-surprising-threat-to-new-moms.html

[nocturnalnurse]

thanks for the link. had a pregnant 3rd trimester mom code at home. came in a full code blue by ambulance, c-section in the ER. full code on the baby for almost 20 min. lost mom and baby both. worse part yet? she spent a week on our unit 10 days prior with c/o chest pain-we took out her gall bladder. autopsy showed an undiagnosed heart condition that her pregnancy caused to worsen leading to her death.

[Lilnurse0803, RN]

Wow, nocturnalnurse, that is really heartbreaking especially since the mom was being treated prior to her death. An article like this can help healthcare members be more aware to look for and treat these complaints differently. As we know, pregnancy puts great strain on the heart due to increased work load and blood/fluid volume thereby exacerbating a weaker heart. Even a normal heart can develop issues during pregnancy putting a women at risk for heart disease.

While all deaths are not preventable, we may be able to catch some before they end up like this one and decrease this alarming and increasing rate of maternal mortality. In the hospitals I have worked in, we have a high risk population of women from a variety of ethnic backgrounds with history of heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, etc. that would raise a red flag if and when certain signs and symptoms manifested itself. The undiagnosed heart conditions that previously caused no issues or the healthy heart would be harder to catch, unless standard prenatal testing included a thorough CV workup.

So many things to think about when addressing this problem. I just hope this trend can change for the better.

thanks for the link. had a pregnant 3rd trimester mom code at home. came in a full code blue by ambulance, c-section in the ER. full code on the baby for almost 20 min. lost mom and baby both. worse part yet? she spent a week on our unit 10 days prior with c/o chest pain-we took out her gall bladder. autopsy showed an undiagnosed heart condition that her pregnancy caused to worsen leading to her death.

[MandaRN94]

When I worked in L&D we had a maternal death -aortic aneurism. Horrible -will never forget that shift. People tend to forget how dangerous pregnancy and childbirth is. The news likes to report that birth control pills, patches, etc.. cause blood clots and death-yes but your risk for a blood clot during preg is about 6-10x higher than taking birth control.