Two in 100,000 women die in pregnancy or in the early weeks after childbirth from cardiovascular conditions, the Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Deaths has found.
This makes heart disease one of the the leading causes of women dying in pregnancy or soon after giving birth in the UK. A total of 153 women died from heart disease during or after pregnancy between 2009 and 2014. Overall, 8.5 women per 100,000 died during pregnancy or shortly after giving birth, between 2012 and 2014. The report highlights issues around awareness of the link between heart disease and pregnancy, citing examples of women not seeking advice from a midwife, as they did not think they were at risk.
‘Pregnancy and childbirth can put extra strain on the heart, particularly if you have a pre-existing heart condition, said Mike Knapton, the BHF’s associate medical director. ‘Some of these deaths are likely to have been caused by undiagnosed conditions which can cause fatal heart attacks without warning’
However, the report identified major areas of progress in reducing maternal deaths. It found that between 2012-14, less than one in every million women giving birth died from pre-eclampsia, which involves a sudden onset of high blood pressure and protein in the urine in pregnancy. When the report first began in the UK in 1966, the figure was 150 women per million.
‘It’s a tragedy that heart disease is taking women’s lives at what should be one of the happiest times a family can have,’ added Mr Knapton. ‘Maternal deaths have significantly reduced in recent decades, but there are still dozens of maternal deaths per year in the UK.’