Pregnancy Can Increase Your Risk of Heart Attack

For those with heart problems (whether they realize it or not), pregnancy can increase the risk of having a heart attack. Here are some things you should know about risks to the heart during pregnancy.

According to Mayo Clinic, pregnancy puts significantly more stress on your heart and circulatory system to support the baby as it grows.

Blood volume increases 30 percent to 50 percent, which means that your heart is pumping 30 percent to 50 percent more blood.

Because of these changes, your heart rate increases and your heart must work harder.

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If a problem with your heart exists before the pregnancy, the additional stress could bring on a heart attack during the pregnancy or labor.

In one study in California, only 6 percent of women who died from a heart attack during their pregnancies had been diagnosed previously with a heart condition, according to Go Red for Women.

Heart disease can be managed during pregnancy if it is diagnosed.

According to Parents Magazine, women who haven’t had previous heart attacks or valve replacements can often plan ahead and work with their heart specialist and OB-GYN to manage heart problems through the pregnancy, depending on what those problems are.

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According to Cleveland Clinic, heart disease causes complications in 1 percent to 4 percent of pregnancies. Some of the reason is women who are waiting longer to have children.

Although heart disease in women of childbearing age is not common, incidence does increase as women reach the higher end of the child-rearing years.

There are some heart conditions that make pregnancy too much of a risk, including severe aortic stenosis, pulmonary hypertension caused by Eisenmenger syndrome, and Marfan syndrome, as well as having had one or more previous heart attacks, Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women Medical Director Dr. Stephanie Martin told Parents Magazine.

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