Clinical characteristics of peripartum cardiomyopathy patients admitted in tertiary hospital

Background: Peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) is a potentially life-threatening condition marked by left ventricular (LV) dysfunction and heart failure. The disease incidence is rising and most of the cases are identified now due to availability of widespread echocardiography and possible suspicion by cardiologist. Materials and Methods: This was hospital-based study conducted in the department of medicine of a tertiary hospital, Bangladesh. The study population consisted of postpartum patients admitted to medicine ward for evaluating dyspnea from January 2012 to January 2017. Totally 31 patients were diagnosed as PPCM and taken as a sample after exclusion of all criteria. Results: Most of the patients belonged to 20–24 years of age group (51.6%, n = 16) and most patients developed PPCM in primigravida (51.6%). About 67.7% admitted from rural area and 32.3% from urban area. Exertional breathlessness (45.1%, n = 14) and orthopnea (32.2%, n = 10) are the predominant symptoms in all age groups, while exertional breathlessness was 50% presentations from early age group and 14.3% from elder group, while orthopnea was Observed 70% from early age group. Nearly 9.3% of participants in the study had twin pregnancy. Association of gestational hypertension and diabetes mellitus was found in this study group as 12.9%, n = 4, and 16.1%, n = 5. Majority of the patients (35.5%, n = 11) had no specific electrocardiography changes; sinus tachycardia and ST-T changes were found equally (22.5%, n = 7). About one-third of the patients (29%, n = 9) were found to have severe LV systolic dysfunction (ejection fraction [EF] <30%) and more than half of the patients had moderate LV systolic dysfunction (EF: 31%–40%). Conclusion: As PPCM is rising worldwide, so proper suspicion, early referral, early intervention, and prevention can overcome the misdiagnosis of PPCM which often leads to clinical deterioration and in some instances death.

Abstract licence: CC BY-NC-SA

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