Pregnancy in US Transplant Recipients Associated with Significant Risks

The authors investigated over 100 cases of pregnancies among heart transplant recipients in the US using a national dataset. Heart transplant mothers had a staggering sixteen-fold adjusted risk of severe maternal morbidity (24.8 percent vs. 1.7 percent in the general population) at 330 days of follow up. These mothers also had elevated risks of preterm birth, readmission, transfusion, and nontransfusion associated complications. Among these patients, nearly 30 percent required readmission, and 6 percent experienced heart transplant related complications. 

Although outcomes of heart transplant continue to improve, pregnancy after transplant should be treated with significant caution.