A Comparative Study of Echocardiographic Parameters in Indian Pregnant and Nonpregnant Women

Abstract

BACKGROUNDPregnancy is a physiological stressful condition, which is accompanied by changes in cardiovascular parameters to fulfil the requirement of rapidly developing embryo and subsequent foetal growth. Serial evaluation has demonstrated noticeable changes in echocardiographic variables due to haemodynamic overload. Hence, it was proposed to estimate the degree of cardiovascular alteration during pregnancy in South Indian women.