Peripartum cardiomyopathy: mortality outcomes

Mortality estimates of peripartum cardiomyopathy have been reported to be between 18 and 56% without reference to time frames. Although this is an unusual impairment, medical directors need accurate information to meet the gold standard of underwriting: decisions must be based on sound underwriting and actuarial principles reasonably related to actual or anticipated loss experience. In an insurance purchasing population, the excess mortality in peripartum cardiomyopathy can be nearly eliminated by not insuring those with the impairment within the first 6 months postpartum or until all abnormal physiologic parameters have resolved. Thereafter, the risk is probably negligible. This abstract illustrates the challenge to determine expected mortality when the study population exhibits strong racial diversity and when available expected life tables contain raw data of only alive and dead at each yearly interval.