x
Breaking News
More () »

Early detection of heart disease in pregnancy

A new national study is using a risk-assessment tool to diagnose cardiovascular disease during pregnancy.

LOS ANGELES — More than three and a half million babies were born in 2022 in the United States. It should be the happiest of times for new parents, but thousands of women die each year either during pregnancy or in the weeks immediately following birth due to cardiovascular disease. One doctor is hoping to get women the help they need.

A baby’s heartbeat is the sound every expectant mother wants to hear, but making sure the unborn baby’s heart is healthy should not be the only concern.

“The biggest contributing factors that led to the maternal death were lack of awareness and lack of recognition of symptoms," UCI Health Ob/Gyn, Dr. Afshan Hameed, M.D. said.

Because pregnancy symptoms and cardiovascular symptoms often overlap, many times, the warning signs are ignored. That’s why a new national study is using a risk-assessment tool to diagnose cardiovascular disease during pregnancy. 

“If the patient is complaining of shortness of breath or chest pain, pay attention. If there are vital sign abnormalities, like heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen; pay attention,” Dr. Hameed emphasized.

The algorithm looks at 18 risk factors. 

“This algorithm was applied to those 64 patients who had died, and we would've detected 93% of them as being high risk for cardiovascular disease," Dr. Hameed said.

Now, a current study funded by the NIH is underway to screen 3,000 pregnant women. 

“It literally takes about 30 seconds to just make a few clicks and you know if the patient is high risk or not,” Dr. Hameed said.

A few questions asked in less than a minute could be time well spent saving a new mother’s life.

The risk-assessment tool is already becoming the standard of care in Georgia, Pennsylvania and some areas of California and New York. Dr. Hameed hopes to create an even simpler standardized national screening tool with fewer questions to make it more user-friendly so it could be applied to every pregnant woman everywhere.

If this story has impacted your life or prompted you or someone you know to seek or change treatments, please let us know by contacting Ann Sterling at ann.sterling@wqad.com or Marjorie Bekaert Thomas at mthomas@ivanhoe.com.

Download the WQAD News 8 App 
Subscribe to our newsletter 
► 
Subscribe to our YouTube channel

Watch more Your Health segments on News 8's YouTube channel  

Before You Leave, Check This Out