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?:abstract
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Background: Pregnancy is associated with significant cardiovascular changes, including an increase in regurgitant valve lesions In this study, we wished to determine whether multiple pregnancies leads to more frequent mitral regurgitation (MR) in later life Method: The OxVALVE population cohort study is a prospective general practice based echocardiographic cohort study Subjects aged 65 years and older without known VHD were invited to participate Pregnancy details were assessed by recall Severity of newly detected VHD was categorised as any if it was mild or more severe, and significant if it was of more than mild severity Results: 2052 women were assessed as part of the study, mean age 72 8 (standard deviation 6 0) years 1827 participants had at least one pregnancy, median 2 366 (17 8%) participants had four or more pregnancies Compared to those with no or fewer than four pregnancies, those with four or more had a lower rate of any MR (30 1% vs 24 9%, univariate logistic regression odds ratio 0 77, 95% confidence interval 0 59-1 0, p=0 05) On multivariate regression, this became non statistically significant There was no significant difference between those with no or fewer than four pregnancies and those with four or more in the rate of significant MR (4 3% vs 3 6%, OR 0 81, 95% CI 0 45-1 48, p=0 50, unadjusted) Conclusion: A history of four or more pregnancies is associated with lower rates of any MR, but with similar rates of significant MR compared to those with fewer or no pregnancies
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