Mitral valve prolapse (MVP) during pregnancy may be associated with a heightened risk of adverse cardiac and obstetric outcomes, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Cardiology.
Researchers examined data from more than 13.5 million pregnant mothers who were hospitalized from 2010 to 2017. While 23,000 of those patients were diagnosed with MVP—good for an overall incidence rate of 16.9 cases per 10,000 pregnancy admissions—1.4% were later readmitted within 30 days. Pregnant women with MVP tended to be older. They were also less likely to be obese or have private health insurance.
After making certain adjustments, the authors noted, women with MVP faced a “significantly higher risk” of dying while in the hospital. They were also much more likely to experience cardiac arrest, cardiac arrhythmia, stroke, congestive heart failure or spontaneous coronary artery dissection.
Looking at obstetric outcomes, women with MVP were also linked to a greater risk of pre-term delivery or preeclampsia/HELLP syndrome.
“To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of an association between MVP and these significant adverse clinical outcomes in pregnant women,” wrote co-lead authors Gianna L. Wilkie, MD, and Waqas T. Qureshi, MD, MS, of University of Massachusetts Memorial Healthcare, and colleagues. “Although coding data may not provide insights into the underlying physiology of the observed relations reported, our data highlight a possible adverse association requiring further evaluation.”
The group pointed to the heightened risk of cardiac arrhythmia and cardiac arrest as especially alarming.
“It is unknown from our data whether pregnancy confers an additional risk to the patient with MVP, predisposing toward arrhythmia and sudden cardiac death, or whether the risk of these adverse outcomes is elevated because of the presence of MVP,” they added.
The full study is available here through ScienceDirect.
Michael has more than 16 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.