Peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) is a rare form of heart failure affecting women between the last month of pregnancy and the first five months after delivery. The etiology and prognostic factors of PPCM remains poorly understood, although some risk factors have been described.

In order to characterize the features of PPCM, clinical and echocardiographic data, obtained from 19 patients who fulfilled diagnostic criteria of PPCM, from January 1996 to march 2001, were retrospectively analyzed. We divided the sample into 2 groups, which were classified according to clinical and echocardiographic improvements. (Group I; patients who improved, Group II; patients who did not improved, or deteriorated).

Patients with PPCM (n=19, age: 32±5 yrs, NYHA Class: II-IV, LVEF: 34.1±8.8%, follow-up period: 14.2±16.3 months) had a high frequencies of the following clinical factors: Anaemia (16/19, 84.2%); Pre-eclampsia (11/19, 57.9%); Multiparity (11/19, 57.9%); aged over 30 yrs old at delivery (11/19, 57.9%). During follow up, 10 patients improved to NYHA Class I, 8 patients failed to improve, or deteriorated, and 1 patient died due to ventricular fibrillation. Group II (n=9, age: 31±3 yrs, follow up LVEF: 38.8±12.9%), as compared to Group I (n=10, age: 33±6 yrs, follow up LVEF: 56.4±6.4%), had greater left ventricular end-systolic dimension (LVESD, 53.0±7.7 mm vs 45.9±4.8 mm; p<0.05).

PPCM has a high rate of progression to dilated cardiomyopathy. Therefore, in pregnant women with common clinical findings of PPCM, including anemia, pre-eclampsia, multiparity and old age at delivery, the initial echocardiographic assessment for cardiac function is essential, and serial follow-up is required.