Highlights the importance of early identification and multi-professional management of pregnant women with heart disease to reduce maternal mortality.
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May guide cardio-obstetric service design; leaves open prospective validation of mortality impact.
Heart disease has been the overall leading cause of maternal death in the UK for the last 6 years of reporting. It is particularly concerning that half of those who died in the last 3-year period had received substandard care ( Cantwell et al. 2011 ). This article aims to provide readers with a broad overview of the haemodynamic changes of pregnancy and the issues women with various cardiac conditions face in pregnancy. Midwives are at the forefront of antenatal and perinatal care, and in a unique position to facilitate the early identification of high-risk pregnancies. Follow-up during pregnancy should be tailored according to the degree of assessed risk. Management of women with pre-existing or acquired heart disease should therefore have input from a consultant with an interest in maternal cardiology and an expert high-risk multi-professional team.
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Ruth Brooks (2011) studied this question.
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