Cherish the "child's heart" and care for the "mother's heart"

On the occasion of June 1, International Children's Day, we should care about children's heart health, starting with protecting the fetus' heart and caring about the "mother's heart" of pregnant women.

Pregnant women are a group of people in a special period. Once a sudden cardiac arrest occurs, the lives of both mother and child will be threatened. Therefore, minimizing maternal mortality is an important guarantee to ensure the safety of mother and child throughout the perinatal period.

The Chinese Maternal Cardiac Arrest Prevention, Treatment and Rescue Expert Committee, composed of the Chinese Society of Research Hospitals Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Professional Committee, the Chinese Geriatric Health Care Association Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Professional Committee, the Chinese Health Management Association Health Culture Committee, the Chinese Medical Association Science Popularization Branch, and the Beijing Medical Association Disaster Medicine and Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Professional Committee, was written by professors Mi Yuhong, Zhou Feihu, Wang Lixiang, Li Yinping, Meng Qingyi, Zhang Jun, Zhang Xinyu and other professors. Based on the pathophysiology of cardiac arrest during pregnancy, the committee proposed high-risk factors for preventing and controlling cardiac arrest during pregnancy, cardiopulmonary resuscitation methods for treating cardiac arrest during pregnancy, and prevention and treatment standards for preventing cardiac arrest during pregnancy, reflecting the Chinese cardiopulmonary resuscitation concept of preventing "potential heart" from above, treating "desire heart" in the middle, and saving "existing heart".

Cardiac arrest during pregnancy refers to cardiac arrest that occurs at any stage of pregnancy and within six weeks after the birth of the fetus. The factors that cause cardiac arrest during pregnancy are slightly different from those that cause cardiac arrest in adults. Knowing the high-risk factors that cause cardiac arrest during pregnancy is of great significance for preventing and controlling cardiac arrest in pregnant women.

Common factors include causes during pregnancy or delivery (such as postpartum hemorrhage, antepartum hemorrhage, heart disease, amniotic fluid embolism (AFE) sepsis) and known or unknown diseases of the pregnant woman herself (such as cardiomyopathy, congenital heart disease, heart failure, valvular disease, connective tissue disease, etc.). According to statistics, there are about 800 maternal deaths worldwide each year. From 2011 to 2013, the main cause of maternal death in the United States was cardiovascular factors, followed by non-cardiovascular factors, infection and bleeding.

Similarly, from 2013 to 2015, the leading cause of maternal death in the UK was also cardiovascular factors. The proportion of maternal deaths caused by anesthesia has been gradually decreasing. Studies have shown that about 1% to 4% of pregnancies are complicated by maternal diseases. Currently, data on the prevalence and incidence of cardiac arrest during pregnancy and pregnancy-related heart disease are very limited worldwide. Studies from the UK show that sudden adult death syndrome, PPCM, aortic dissection (AD) and AMI are common causes of maternal death. Statistics from 10 Western countries show that the increase in the age of first pregnancy (about 28.8 to 31.2 years) is accompanied by an increase in the risk of cardiovascular disease during pregnancy. The occurrence of cardiac arrest in the late childbearing period (or 40 to 50 years old) is often associated with an increased incidence of cardiovascular risk factors. In particular, diabetes, hypertension and obesity. Hypertension during pregnancy (incidence 5% to 10%) has also become a common cause of cardiovascular dysfunction. Congenital heart disease is the most common cardiovascular disease during pregnancy in Western countries (75%-82%). Rheumatic valvular disease is predominant in non-Western countries, accounting for 56% to 89% of all cardiovascular disease during pregnancy. Cardiomyopathy is relatively uncommon, but its occurrence often represents a serious cardiovascular complication.

In 2022, the national maternal mortality rate was 15.7/100,000, the infant mortality rate dropped by 4.9‰, and the child mortality rate dropped to 6.8‰, all of which dropped to the lowest level in history. If the three-level prevention, prevention and rescue strategy is actively implemented and promoted during the "prenatal, intrapartum and postpartum" period of pregnant women, the first-level prevention is to prevent and control high-risk factors in normal times and prevent them as much as possible; the second-level prevention is to prevent and treat high-risk diseases in a timely manner, that is, to reduce their occurrence; the third-level prevention is to prevent and rescue high-risk types in emergencies, and minimize the maternal mortality rate. We strive to reduce my country's maternal mortality rate to below 12/100,000 by 2030, and the rate for children under 5 years old to 6‰. There is no doubt that the "Chinese Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Expert Consensus" guidelines for the prevention, treatment and rescue of maternal cardiac arrest are a powerful guarantee for safeguarding the life and health rights of women and children.

(Mi Yuhong, Zhou Feihu, Wang Lixiang)