Effect of Parity on Cardiac Status among Women with Congenital Heart
Disease: a Matched Case-Controlled study
Abstract
Objective. Women with congenital heart disease (CHD) are at risk for
cardiac deterioration. Previous studies focused on women after one or
two pregnancies. We investigated the effect of parity on maternal
cardiac status by comparing women with CHD and ≥3 live births to women
with <3 live births. Design. Matched case-controlled study.
Setting. Tertiary medical center, clinic for adults with CHD.
Population. Twenty-nine women with ≥3 live births, matched (CHD, age)
with women with <3 live births. Methods. Women with CHD were
identified from the Adult CHD clinic (2010-2018), and data retrieved
from medical records. Outcomes were compared for women with ≥3 live
births versus <3 live births using the McNemar test. Main
outcome measures. New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional
classification, and cardiac impairment score assigned according to
echocardiography by a cardiologist blinded to parity. Results. For 29
matched pairs with mean age 42.4 (SD 14.2) and 186 live births, the mean
difference in number of live births between matched pairs was 3.8 (SD
2.5). In 17 (58.6%) pairs, women with ≥3 live births and those with
<3 live births had concordant NYHA class. Echocardiography
score was concordant for 19 (65.5%) pairs. Women with ≥3 live births
had lower NYHA class in 8 (27.5%) pairs and lower echocardiography
scores in 6 (20.6%) pairs. Differences were not significant (p=0.129,
p=0.801). Conclusions. Cardiac status was similar for women with CHD and
≥3 live births compared to women with <3 live births.
Keywords. Pregnancy, Birth, Congenital Heart Disease (CHD), NYHA,
Parity.