Maternal cardiac output as a predictor of preeclampsia-eclampsia syndrome

Abstract

Introduction and Objectives: Hypertension is the most common medical complication of pregnancy, and it can leave permanent sequelae such as neurological, hepatic, hematological or renal disorders. Every three minutes a woman dies due to preeclampsia. During pregnancy, cardiac output suffers an increase of 40%. This increase is secondary to an increase of approximately 30% of systolic volume. The research objective was to predict the onset of preeclampsia-eclampsia syndrome by identifying alterations in cardiac output. Methods: An observational, descriptive, longitudinal, analytical study of prospective cohort was performed, in which by echocardiography, the cardiac output in 31 pregnant women between weeks 11 and 13.6 of gestation was determined as the only value, and through prenatal monitoring, the presence or absence of preeclampsia-eclampsia syndrome was observed. Results: The follow-up of 31 pregnant women was achieved, to whom cardiac output was measured, with the following findings: a prevalence of disease of 12.9% with 64.5% of patients correctly diagnosed, with a sensitivity of 75%, positive predictive value of 23%, specificity of 62% and negative predictive value of 94% with a relative risk of 4.1 (95% confidence interval, 0.48 to 35.6). Conclusions: It is possible to establish cardiac output measurement as screening study to predict the onset of preeclampsia syndrome from prenatal care, thus contributing to the decline in maternal death.