Objective: To examine the association between mood disorders in pregnancy and postpartum and peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM).
Methods: Retrospective cohort study utilizing the National Inpatient Sample from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality of pregnant and postpartum patients from 2017-2019. Patients were separated into two groups based on ICD-10 coding for presence or absence of mood disorder (depression, bipolar depression, anxiety, or other mood diagnosis). The primary outcome was diagnosis of PPCM. Secondary outcomes included a composite of adverse cardiac events and maternal death. Groups were compared via t-tests, chi-squared analysis, and logistic regression that included all variables that differed between groups with p<0.05.
Results: Over 2.2 million subjects were analyzed and approximately 168,000 (7.4%) had an ICD-10 diagnosis of mood disorder. Those with mood disorders were more likely to be non-Hispanic white, obese, tobacco users, publicly insured, have comorbidities, and deliver at a large, private, non-profit hospital (all p<0.05). They were delivered at an earlier gestational age and were also more likely to undergo cesarean (37.0±4.6 vs 37.8±3.7 weeks and 35.8% vs 31.8%, respectively)., p<0.001). The primary outcome of PPCM was identified more than twice as often in those with mood disorder (0.12% vs 0.05%, p<0.001). Composite cardiac events, consisting of incidence of acute myocardial infarction, cardiac arrest, cardioversion, cardiac failure, and pulmonary edema were more frequent among patients with mood disorders (0.36% vs 0.14%, p<0.001). After controlling for confounders, PPCM remained independently associated with diagnosis of mood disorders (aOR 1.36, 95%CI 1.03-1.80) as did the composite of adverse cardiac events (aOR 1.57, 95% CI 1.37-1.81).
Conclusion: Mood disorders in pregnancy and postpartum are associated with increased rates of PPCM and other cardiac events.