Double Danger for Women with Rheumatic Heart Disease

Women of childbearing age with rheumatic heart disease (RHD) face a double danger. They are at a risk of developing complications during pregnancy, reveals a new study.

Today, most people in the United States rarely think of rheumatic heart disease (RHD) -or the rheumatic fever that causes it-as more than a historical footnote.

Rheumatic Heart Disease (RHD) - Causes, Risk factors, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment
Rheumatic heart disease is a sequelae of rheumatic fever that affects heart valves. Rheumatic fever occurs after an episode of strep throat or sore throat due to group A beta hemolytic streptococci.

‘Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) interventions need to target women in the low- to moderate-income countries to prevent the disease.’

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Rheumatic fever, which usually starts as strep throat, was essentially eliminated as a life-threatening disease with the use of penicillin in the early 20th century.

But for much of the developing world, RHD still kills. Estimates range that between a quarter-million to 330,000 people a year die from what has been called the "disease of poverty" across Africa, the Middle East, Central and South Asia and the South Pacific.

Worse, women of childbearing age who suffer from RHD face a double danger: They face increased risk of complications during pregnancy-including death-while also bearing a cultural burden and expectation that they'll become mothers.

Aortic Valve Stenosis - Causes - Symptoms - Diagnosis - Replacement
Aortic valve Stenosis is an abnormal narrowing of the c valve. Symptoms include angina, and that of heart failure. Aortic valve replacement is effective therapy.

That was among the findings in a recent study in Uganda led by researcher Allison Webel, an assistant professor at the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University.

The survey of 75 women last year is among the first qualitative studies of female RHD patients and their attitudes toward cardiovascular disease and reproduction.

Mitral Valve Regurgitation | Mitral Valve Replacement | Mitral Valve Stenosis - General Information
Mitral valve replacement is replacing the diseased mitral valve with an artificial valve.

The study has its origins in clinical observations at the Ugandan Heart Institute.

A health-care provider there was hearing from women who were cautioned by their doctors about the dangers of bearing and delivering children-but who were also being told by their families and community that they must get pregnant.

Mitral Valve Stenosis And Mitral Valve Replacement - Brief Information
Mitral valve replacement is a surgical heart procedure to correct either the narrowing (stenosis) or the leakage (regurgitation).

Webel said that "tension between maintaining one's own health and the social expectation of becoming pregnant" was clearly illustrated in the Ugandan study.

"Our findings suggest that health programs targeting RHD in low- to moderate-income countries have to pay special attention to female patients of childbearing age," she said.

Webel and six co-authors discuss their findings in a paper published this month in the journal PLOS ONE.

Source-Eurekalert