Why the study?
CVD has surpassed traditional causes of pregnancy-related mortality in the United States, and normal physiological hemodynamic changes can produce symptoms indistinguishable from CVD.
Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of pregnancy-related mortality, highlighting the critical need for effective screening and symptom differentiation by obstetric providers.
CVD drives substantial pregnancy-related mortality; leaves open optimal screening and prevention strategies pending prospective data.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) has surpassed the traditional causes of pregnancy-related mortality, including hemorrhage and thromboembolism in the United States. CVD accounts for ~15.5% of all pregnancy-related deaths. Pregnancy is a "natural cardiovascular stress test" for a woman. The physiological changes in the maternal hemodynamics that are geared to accommodate the growing needs of the fetal-placental unit may also lead to symptoms that are indistinguishable from those of CVD, especially in the third trimester of pregnancy. It is imperative that an obstetric provider is able to differentiate symptoms of normal pregnancy from those of a pathologic process.
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Sherman‐Brown et al. (2020) studied this question.
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