Objective: The goal of the study was to determine risk factors for maternal cardiac failure in pregnancy complicated with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM).
Study design: The subjects were 29 patients diagnosed with DCM before conception or during the first 7 months of pregnancy. DCM was defined as left ventricle end-diastolic dimension (LVDd)≥48 mm and/or fractional shortening (%FS)≤30% on echocardiography. Patients were followed until at least 1 year after delivery and were categorized into a poor prognosis group (n=6; death or end stage heart failure of New York Heart Association (NYHA) class III and IV) and a good prognosis group (n=23; all other cases).
Result: DCM was initially diagnosed during pregnancy in 6/6 and 8/23 patients in the poor and good prognosis groups, respectively (P<0.005). The %FS of the first test during pregnancy was 17.5±6.2 and 27.4±9.3% in the respective groups (P<0.005). In eight abortion cases with %FS 15.2±3.1%, %FS, cardiac function and NYHA class were maintained until 20 months after abortion. There was no relationship between LVDd and maternal outcome.
Conclusion: Onset during pregnancy and decreased %FS are risk factors for a poor maternal outcome in patients with DCM. Abortion prevents further deterioration of cardiac function in patients with a very low %FS.