Heart disease in pregnant women has a great impact both on women and theirs fetus.

What is it about?

In this article, we will review the data available on the impact of cardiac disease and its management, on various perinatal outcomes and areas of future research. The search strategy included a combination of keywords like pregnancy, perinatal outcome, fetal adverse events, heart disease, adult congenital heart disease, valvular heart disease, rheumatic heart disease, cardiomyopathy, pulmonary hypertension and cardio obstetrics

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Why is it important?

About 1–4% of pregnancies globally are complicated with various cardiovascular diseases, more so if hypertension, which is present in around 10% of pregnancies, is also considered. In developing countries, the diagnosis and management of cardiac disorders may be delayed. This will adversely affect the counselling and outcomes for pregnant women and their babies. During pregnancy, a failing heart is overburdened and thus, cardiac disease may have a poorer prognosis in pregnancy, particularly during labor and immediate postpartum. Management of cardiac disease in pregnancy requires specialized care involving a team including a general practitioner, obstetrician, physician, anesthetist, cardiologist, neonatologist, counselor and others depending upon the available resources.

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