Quality of life in pregnancy after percutaneous closure of atrial septal defect guided by transthoracic echocardiography

PURPOSE: We evaluated quality of life (QoL) in pregnant women who underwent transthoracic echocardiography-guided percutaneous closure of atrial septal defect (ASD). METHODS: A total of 45 pregnant women underwent transthoracic echocardiography-guided percutaneous closure of ASD. We assessed QoL using the 36-Item Short Form Survey (SF-36) and compared results between pre- and post-procedure patients, as well as between those with ASD and healthy women in their second and third trimesters of pregnancy. RESULTS: All patients showed improved right ventricular function and were classified as Class I, post-procedure. Mean SF-36 scores of the post-procedure group were better on all sub-scales than those of the pre-procedure group (p < 0.05), with the exception of role-emotional and mental health. Mean SF-36 scores for the pre-procedure group were also lower on all sub-scales than those of healthy pregnant controls (p < 0.05), with the exception of role physical, role emotional, and mental health. There was no difference between the post-procedure group and healthy pregnant controls. In a subgroup analysis, scores were better in some dimensions (social functioning and role emotional) for post-procedure patients in the 31–40 years of age group and the group on their second or third pregnancies than those of the 20–30 years of age group and the group on their first pregnancies (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: After closure of ASD, QoL in pregnant women was improved. In a subgroup analysis, the younger women and those on their first pregnancy performed more poorly in some dimensions (social functioning and role emotional); this suggested that these groups should receive more proactive intervention.