Doppler echocardiographic assessment of pregnant women with chronic arterial hypertension.
OBJECTIVE
To assess structural and functional cardiac changes in asymptomatic pregnant women with chronic arterial hypertension (CAH).


METHODS
One hundred pregnant women with CAH underwent conventional Doppler echocardiography. The Student t test was used to compare them with 29 normotensive pregnant women (NT) in their third gestational trimester.


RESULTS
Systolic (SBP; mmHg) and diastolic (DBP; mmHg) blood pressure values were higher (p<0.001) in the CAH pregnant women (SBP: 139+/-19 and DBP: 92+/- 18) as compared with those of the NT group (SBP: 112+/-10 and DBP: 74+/-9). A significant enlargement of the left atrium (4.10+/-0.48 cm vs 3.6+/-0.3 cm; p<0.001) and of the left ventricular normalized mass (59.6+/-19.7 g/cm2,7 vs 41.9+/-3.4 g/cm2,7; p<0.001) was observed. Cardiac output (CO, L/min) and systolic volume (SV, mL) were significantly higher in the CAH group (CO: 6.0+/-1.54 vs 4.9+/-2.1, p<0.01; SV: 77.3+/-19.8 vs 56.5+/-25.8, p<0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
Chronic hypertensive pregnant women have structural and functional cardiac changes that justify routine cardiologic assessment, even in the absence of cardiopulmonary symptoms.
de Mattia
Nádia Cristiane
NC
Faculdade de Medicina de Botucatu, UNESP, Botucatu, SP, Brazil.
Barbin
Regina Lúcia
RL
Borges
Vera Therezinha M
VT
Peraçoli
José Carlos
JC
Matsubara
Beatriz B
BB
D000328:Adult; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002908:Chronic Disease; D015150:Echocardiography, Doppler; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D011247:Pregnancy; D011249:Pregnancy Complications, Cardiovascular / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D018487:Ventricular Dysfunction, Left / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology