Comprehensive Assessment of Biventricular and Biatrial Myocardial Strain Parameters at Six Years Postpartum in a Cohort of Women with Previous Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy

作者：Andrea Sonaglioni, Federico Napoli, R Dell’Anna, Gian Luigi Nicolosi, Stefano Bianchi, Michele Lombardo, Sergio Harari, Chiara Lonati · 发表于：Journal of Clinical Medicine · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.3390/jcm14134767 · 被引用次数：4 · 研究领域：Pregnancy and preeclampsia studies、Birth, Development, and Health、Cardiovascular Issues in Pregnancy

Background: Over the past decade, few echocardiographic investigations have assessed myocardial strain parameters in women with a history of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP), and their findings have been inconsistent. Moreover, no study has comprehensively evaluated deformation indices of all biventricular and biatrial chambers in women post-HDP. This study aimed to examine the structural and functional myocardial properties of all cardiac chambers in a cohort of women with prior HDP at six years after delivery. Methods: We analyzed a consecutive cohort of women with previous HDP and compared them with a control group of normotensive healthy women matched for age and body mass index (BMI). Both groups underwent standard transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) supplemented by a detailed speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) evaluation of biventricular and biatrial myocardial deformation, along with carotid ultrasound, at six years postpartum. The primary endpoint was subclinical myocardial dysfunction, defined by impaired left ventricular global longitudinal strain (LV-GLS < 20%), while the secondary endpoint was early carotid atherosclerosis, defined by common carotid artery intima-media thickness (CCA-IMT) ≥ 0.7 mm. Results: The study included 31 women with previous HDP (mean age 42.3 ± 5.9 years) and 30 matched controls without HDP history (mean age 40.8 ± 5.0 years). The average follow-up duration was 6.1 ± 1.3 years postpartum. Despite preserved and comparable ...