Objective: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) increases the risk for perinatal women and newborns, especially in women with congenital heart disease (CHD). We explored the maternal, perinatal, and postneonatal outcomes of PAH in pregnant women with CHD in China.
Methods: A total of 95 pregnant women with CHD-PAH in Beijing Anzhen Hospital from 2009 to 2013 were included retrospectively. We described their characteristics and examined the associations between the grade of PAH and maternal, perinatal, and postneonatal outcomes.
Results: The New York Heart Association (NYHA) classification grade, delivery mode, and infant outcomes in CHD-PAH patients were analyzed. Overall 95 patients with CHD-PAH, there were 17 patients in mild group(17.7%), 27 patients in moderate group (28.1%), and 51 patients in severe group (53.1%)。The CHD patients with mild PAH, were mostly NYHA class I-II and CHD patients with severe PAH were NYHA class II-IVs. Cesarean section (67.7%) was the most common method of delivery. The rate of therapeutic abortion in the severe group (76.9%) was obviously higher than that in other groups (11.5% in mild group and moderate group respectively), whereas there was no term delivery in severe group, with 2 cases in mild group and moderated group respectively . The rates of heart failure and therapeutic abortion in pregnant women were positively associated with the severity of PAH. The rate of term delivery was higher in patients whose CHD had been corrected by cardiac surgery (83.3%) before pregnancy.
Conclusion: Patients with severe PAH have poor cardiac adaptability, poor maternal and fetal outcomes, and are contraindicated during pregnancy. Patients with mild PAH are not absolutely contraindicated during pregnancy, but their heart burden increases significantly in the third trimester. Patients in mid-gestation should preferentially be delivered by cesarean section. When pregnant patients prefer to continue pregnancy, their close monitoring is essential. We provide useful data for guiding management of pregnancy and delivery in patients with CHD in China.
Keywords: China; Pregnancy; congenital heart disease; pulmonary hypertension.