Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T17:04:57.610Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Current attitudes and clinical practice towards the care of pregnant women with underlying CHD: a paediatric cardiology perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 April 2016

Marc G. Cribbs
Affiliation:
Division of Cardiovascular Disease, L.M. Bargeron Division of Pediatric Cardiology, University of Alabama Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, United States of America
David A. Briston
Affiliation:
Division of Pediatric Cardiology, The Children’s Hospital at Montefiore, Bronx, New York, United States of America
Ali N. Zaidi*
Affiliation:
Division of Pediatric Cardiology, The Children’s Hospital at Montefiore, Bronx, New York, United States of America Montefiore Adult Congenital Heart Disease (MAtCH) Program, Montefiore Heart and Vascular Care Institute, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, United States of America
*
Correspondence to: Dr. Ali N. Zaidi, Division of Pediatric Cardiology, The Children’s Hospital at Montefiore, 111 East 210th Street, Bronx, NY 10467, United States of America. Tel: 718-920-5882; Fax: 718-654-6264; E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

Objectives

The growing number of women with CHD presents unique challenges, including those related to pregnancy, which can lead to significant morbidity and mortality. We sought to evaluate the perception of paediatric cardiologists towards the reproductive health of women with CHD.

Methods

Paediatric cardiologists in the United States of America were invited to participate in a cross-sectional, anonymous survey. Information solicited included knowledge of contraceptive methods, experience caring for pregnant women with CHD, and referral patterns including the utilisation of high-risk obstetric and adult CHD specialists.

Results

A total of 110 cardiologists responded – 90% with an academic affiliation and 70% with ⩾10 years’ clinical experience. Although 95% reported an understanding of available contraceptive options, 32% did not feel comfortable recommending birth control. Pregnant women with CHD were seen by 83% of responders, and 37% of the responders reported a low level of comfort in doing so. Among all respondents, 73% indicated that they would refer a pregnant CHD patient to a high-risk obstetrician and 60% to an adult CHD specialist – almost all respondents would not transfer care to a non-adult CHD cardiologist. Among paediatric cardiologists, 81% indicated that they would resume their patient’s care following delivery.

Conclusion

Our results illustrate a gap in what physicians feel should be done and the care that they feel comfortable providing pregnant women with CHD. As this population continues to grow, training adult CHD cardiologists with specific skills in reproductive health in women with CHD is the first step to closing the care gap that exists in the management of such patients.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Abdulla, RI. Congenital heart disease management in developing countries. Pediatr Cardiol 2002; 23: 481482.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
2. Hoffman, JI, Kaplan, S, Liberthson, RR. Prevalence of congenital heart disease. Am Heart J 2004; 147: 425439.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
3. Marelli, AJ, Ionescu-Ittu, R, Mackie, AS, Guo, L, Dendukuri, N, Kaouache, M. Lifetime prevalence of congenital heart disease in the general population from 2000 to 2010. Circulation 2014; 130: 749756.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
4. Warnes, CA, Liberthson, R, Danielson, GK, et al. Task force 1: the changing profile of congenital heart disease in adult life. J Am Coll Cardiol 2001; 37: 11701175.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
5. Balint, OH, Siu, SC, Mason, J, et al. Cardiac outcomes after pregnancy in women with congenital heart disease. Heart 2010; 96: 16561661.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
6. Bhatt, A, DeFaria Yeh, D. Pregnancy and adult congenital heart disease. Cardiol Clin 2015; 33: 611623.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
7. Warnes, CA, Williams, RG, Bashore, TM, et al. ACC/AHA 2008 guidelines for the management of adults with congenital heart disease: a report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines (Writing Committee to Develop Guidelines on the Management of Adults With Congenital Heart Disease). Developed in Collaboration With the American Society of Echocardiography, Heart Rhythm Society, International Society for Adult Congenital Heart Disease, Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions, and Society of Thoracic Surgeons. J Am Coll Cardiol 2008; 52: e1e121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8. Silversides, CK, Salehian, O, Oechslin, E, et al. Canadian Cardiovascular Society 2009 Consensus Conference on the management of adults with congenital heart disease: complex congenital cardiac lesions. Can J Cardiol 2010; 26: e98e117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9. Drenthen, W, Boersma, E, Balci, A, et al. Predictors of pregnancy complications in women with congenital heart disease. Eur Heart J 2010; 31: 21242132.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
10. Siu, SC, Sermer, M, Colman, JM, et al. Prospective multicenter study of pregnancy outcomes in women with heart disease. Circulation 2001; 104: 515521.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
11. Regitz-Zagrosek, V, Blomstrom Lundqvist, C, Borghi, C. ESC guidelines on the management of cardiovascular diseases during pregnancy: the Task Force on the Management of Cardiovascular Diseases during Pregnancy of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). Eur Heart J 2011; 32: 31473197.Google ScholarPubMed
12. Harris, PA, Taylor, R, Thielke, R, et al. Research electronic data capture (REDCap) – a metadata-driven methodology and workflow process for providing translational research informatics support. J Biomed Inform 2009; 42: 377381.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
13. Adult Congenital Heart Association. Retrieved 2011 from http://www.achaheart.org/resources/for-patients/clinic-directory.aspx.Google Scholar
14. Creanga, AA, Berg, CJ, Syverson, C, et al. Pregnancy-related mortality in the United States, 2006-2010. Obstet Gynecol 2015; 125: 512.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
15. McFaul, PB, Dornan, JC, Lamki, H, et al. Pregnancy complicated by maternal heart disease. A review of 519 women. Br J Obstet Gynaecol 1988; 95: 861867.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
16. Cantwell, R, Clutton-Brock, T, Cooper, G, et al. Saving Mothers’ Lives: reviewing maternal deaths to make motherhood safer: 2006-2008. The eighth report of the confidential enquiries into maternal deaths in the United Kingdom. BJOG 2011; 118: 1203.Google ScholarPubMed
17. Matthews, TJ, Hamiltion, BE. First births to older women continue to rise. NCHS Data Brief 2014; 152: 18.Google Scholar
18. Dearani, JA, Connolly, HM, Martinez, R, et al. Caring for adults with congenital cardiac disease: successes and challenges for 2007 and beyond. Cardiol Young 2007; 17: 8796.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
19. Giannakoulas, G, Dimopoulos, K, Engel, R, et al. Burden of coronary artery disease in adults with congenital heart disease and its relation to congenital and traditional heart risk factors. Am J Cardiol 2009; 103: 14451450.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
20. Kaemmerer, H, Fratz, S, Bauer, U, et al. Emergency hospital admissions and three-year survival of adults with and without cardiovascular surgery for congenital cardiac disease. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2003; 126: 10481052.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
21. Mackie, AS, Ionescu-Ittu, R, Therrien, J, Pilote, L, Abrahamowicz, M, Marelli, AJ. Children and adults with congenital heart disease lost to follow-up: who and when? Circulation 2009; 120: 302309.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
22. Ohuchi, H, Miyamoto, Y, Yamamoto, M, et al. High prevalence of abnormal glucose metabolism in young adult patients with complex congenital heart disease. Am Heart J 2009; 158: 3039.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
23. Pillutla, P, Shetty, KD, Foster, E. Mortality associated with adult congenital heart disease: trends in the US population from 1979 to 2005. Am Heart J 2009; 158: 874879.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed