On Pregnancy
- Posted by andrea on March 23rd, 2008 filed in Avoiding Heart Disease, Prevention, Research
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During pregnancy, the mother’s good health affects the infant’s overall well-being. It can influence such things as premature delivery and the size of the baby. But birth defects of the heart may occur despite good health and a normal pregnancy. Mothers often may feel guilty that they caused the child’s defect. Usually this isn’t the case. However, maternal illnesses such as diabetes have been linked to a slightly increased incidence of birth defects, including heart defects. Defects such as coarctation of the aorta or aortic valve stenosis have the greatest risk of occurring in the child. Each time another close family member is also affected, the risk increases even more.