Heart disease boosts maternal death 100-fold
This is a sobering truth - the start of one life is the threat to another... ----- Posted: 31 August 2011 PARIS: Pregnant women with heart disease face a 100-fold increased risk of death, with the danger for offspring multiplied by 10, according to figures released on Tuesday at a medical congress in Paris . Analysing data on 1,300 women gathered since 2008 from 28 countries across Europe, researchers reported 13 maternal deaths - one percent of the cohort - among expectant women with pre-existing heart conditions. In healthy women, the average rate of maternal mortality in Europe is about one in 10,000. Of the 1,300 women, 869 had congenital heart disease, 333 were vascular heart patients, 79 had cardiomyopathy and 24 suffered from ischaemic heart disease . Cardiomyopathy causes the heart muscle to become thicker and more rigid than normal, while ischaemic heart disease is characterised by reduced blood supply to the heart. There were 59 cases of foetal deaths...