Cardiac electrical and structural alterations in preeclampsia

Preeclampsia increases the risk of cardiovascular mortality and morbidity both during pregnancy and long term after the labor by causing cardiac changes that may lead to atrial and ventricular arrhythmias.

We aimed to investigate noninvasive predictors of atrial and ventricular arrhythmias and cardiac structural changes in preeclampsia.

The study included 34 preeclampsia patients as the study group and 33 healthy pregnant women as the control group. The presence of fragmented QRS morphology, P dispersion, QT dispersion, Tp-e/QTc ratio, inter- and intra-atrial electromechanical delay, left ventricular mass index was evaluated in the groups by 12 lead- ECG and standard and tissue Doppler echocardiography.

Left ventricular mass index and relative wall thickness, and E/Em ratio was significantly higher in preeclampsia. Inter- and intra-atrial electromechanical delay and Tp-e were prolonged, and P dispersion, QT dispersion, and Tp-e/QTc ratio were increased significantly in patients with preeclampsia. In addition, fragmented QRS morphology was seen in 76.5% of patients with preeclampsia while it was present in only 27.3% of the control group (p < .001).

Preeclampsia causes significant cardiac structural and electrocardiographic alterations that may increase the risk of atrial and/or ventricular arrhythmias. A more thorough and earlier cardiac assessment and closer follow-up of these patients would be useful to avoid further complications.