Incidence of Arrhythmias in Normal Pregnancy and Relation to Palpitations, Dizziness, and Syncope
Section snippets
Patient Population
We studied 110 consecutive pregnant women referred to the High Risk Obstetrical Clinic at the LAC at USC Medical Center for complaints of palpitations, dizziness, presyncope, and/or syncope (study group.) The patients had the following clinical characteristics: their ages ranged from 15 to 42 years (mean 27 ± 7), mean gravidity was 3 ± 2 (range 1 to 13), and mean parity 2 ± 2 (range 0 to 12). Ninety-seven patients were Hispanic (88%), 7 were black (6%), 3 were white (3%), and 3 were Asian (3%).
Results
The study groups' symptoms and reasons for referral were palpitations in 87% of cases, dizziness in 13%, and presyncope or syncope in 6% (Table 1). Four percent had frequent ventricular premature complexes (VPCs) on their 12-lead electrocardiogram and an additional 4% had a history of supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) or frequent VPCs.
Comparing the main symptoms (palpitations, dizziness, and syncope) between the study group and the control patients (Table 2) revealed no significant differences
Discussion
This study demonstrates a high incidence of arrhythmias, mostly ventricular ectopic activity, in young healthy women presenting with symptoms of palpitations, dizziness, or syncope during their pregnancy. Our findings, however, failed to show a positive relation between symptoms and ectopic activity. The presence of arrhythmias could be documented in only 10% of symptomatic episodes. The cause for symptoms in most cases remains, therefore, unclear and their presence during normal pregnancy is
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