Risk was especially high shortly after childbirth, but beta-blocker use might minimize that risk.
We have little data about whether the degree of risk for cardiovascular events changes during and after pregnancy in women with long-QT syndrome (LQTS). Investigators studied International LQTS Registry data from 391 women with clinical LQTS or an LQTS-related gene mutation who had a live birth from 1980 to March 2003. They analyzed incident syncope, aborted cardiac arrest, and LQTS-related death before conception, during pregnancy, postpartum (≤9 months after delivery), and post-postpartum (>9 months after delivery).
Preconception was used as the reference period. A significantly reduced risk for any cardiac event (mainly syncope) was found during pregnancy (hazard ratio, 0.28) and a significantly increased risk during the postpartum period…