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Mayo Clinic Minutes
Heart disease is the number one cause of death for women in the U.S. Deaths from heart disease among women who are pregnant or have given birth within the past year have increased over the past 30 years.
Mayo Clinic cardiologist Dr. Demilade Adedinsewo explains the warning signs of heart failure during pregnancy and how medical experts are trying to detect the condition early.
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Some normal symptoms during pregnancy may overlap with warning signs of heart failure.
“(Symptoms) include swelling in the legs, shortness of breath when walking short distances and shortness of breath when lying on your back in bed at night,” Dr Adedinsewo said.
Delayed diagnosis can be life-threatening, and some pregnant women are at even higher risk of developing heart failure.
“There is a specific type of heart failure that occurs during pregnancy or immediately after birth called peripartum cardiomyopathy,” Dr. Adedinsewo says. “Black women are up to 16 times more likely to develop this disease than white women.”
A healthy diet, exercise, enough sleep and not smoking can reduce your risk. Dr. Adedinsewo recommends attending regular check-ups with your health care team to check your blood sugar and blood lipids.
“If we can test and evaluate a tool that can identify women who are at high risk of heart failure during pregnancy, using something as simple as an electrocardiogram, we can begin appropriate treatment and reduce the risk of death during this period,” she says.
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