THE EFFECT OF CHILDBEARING ON THE COURSE OF RHEUMATIC HEART DISEASE: A 25-YEAR STUDY

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Abstract
The ultimate effect of repeated child bearing on the course of rheumatic heart disease is not well known. The records of 455 women with rheumatic heart disease in the child bearing age treated in the cardiac clinic of The Brooklyn Hospital over a 25-year-period from 1924-1949 were analyzed. The cases were analyzed as to parity, non-parity, mortality and other factors usually considered significant from a prognostic point of view. The analysis shows that: (1) Women who were non-parous at first observation had a poorer survival rate than the parous, and that the most favorable survival rates were exhibited by women who had had 2 or more full term pregnancies prior to first observation. (2) Women who had subsequent children within 5 years after the first observation had much better survival rates than women who did not become pregnant after the first observation. The selective effect of the very factor studied creates a natural bias which precludes such data from providing an answer to the question. The possibility that pregnancy in itself exerts a beneficial effect cannot be ruled out or investigated by these data. However, there is certainly no evidence that pregnancy has a long term detrimental effect in a large group.

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