Assessing the Role of Echocardiography in Pregnancy in First Nations Australian Women: Is It an Underutilised Resource?

Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) remains prevalent within First Nations Australian communities. RHD is more common in females and peak prevalence corresponds with childbearing age. Significant valvular disease can complicate pregnancy. Current practice in Northern Australia is to refer pregnant women f...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Heart, Lung and Circulation
Main Authors: Marangou, James, Ferguson, Dominic, Unger, Holger W, Kaethner, Alex, Ilton, Marcus, Remenyi, Bo, Ralph, Anna P
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Elsevier Science 2024
Subjects:
Echocardiography
First Nations Australians
Obstetric-cardiology
Pregnancy
Rheumatic heart disease
First Nations
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hlc.2024.04.301
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38918121
Description
Summary:Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) remains prevalent within First Nations Australian communities. RHD is more common in females and peak prevalence corresponds with childbearing age. Significant valvular disease can complicate pregnancy. Current practice in Northern Australia is to refer pregnant women for echocardiography if there are signs or symptoms of possible cardiac pathology or a history of acute rheumatic fever (ARF) or RHD. It is not currently routine practice to offer echocardiographic screening for all pregnant women at high risk of RHD.

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