Pregnancy in Patients With Structural or Ischaemic Heart Disease
Pregnancy in Patients With Structural or Ischaemic Heart Disease
Although this study describes a large population of patients, subgroup analysis was not performed in detail due to small numbers per group. Differences by diagnosis will exist; therefore, pooling patients is an over-simplification. In addition, the input and quality of data was checked in only 5–10% of cases. In 5% of patients, the data were incomplete. In addition, some centres had much higher volumes than others. Therefore, there may be bias of data. Although most data were collected prospectively (2008–11), pregnancies of 2007 (14% of patients) were included retrospectively. As participation to the registry was voluntary and there may be differences between sites that agreed to participate and those that did not, the registry may not be representative and therefore all conclusions must be drawn with caution. Finally, it was difficult to find a good control population. By including large prospective series from the countries that included most patients, we hope to have provided the best possible information for comparison.
Study Limitations
Although this study describes a large population of patients, subgroup analysis was not performed in detail due to small numbers per group. Differences by diagnosis will exist; therefore, pooling patients is an over-simplification. In addition, the input and quality of data was checked in only 5–10% of cases. In 5% of patients, the data were incomplete. In addition, some centres had much higher volumes than others. Therefore, there may be bias of data. Although most data were collected prospectively (2008–11), pregnancies of 2007 (14% of patients) were included retrospectively. As participation to the registry was voluntary and there may be differences between sites that agreed to participate and those that did not, the registry may not be representative and therefore all conclusions must be drawn with caution. Finally, it was difficult to find a good control population. By including large prospective series from the countries that included most patients, we hope to have provided the best possible information for comparison.
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