Introduction
Echocardiography is the most widely used diagnostic tool for detecting the cardiac functional changes[1]. New updates for calculating the cardiac ventricular functions are still continuing [2]. Systolic and diastolic functions of the heart can be affected by many variables [3, 4]. Especially systemic chronic diseases (diabetes mellitus, hypertension, hyperlipidemia…) deteriorate these functions. However, in healthy population, some situations as pregnancy may change cardiovascular mechanism.
Pregnancy is a dynamic process that affects cardiovascular system. During pregnancy maternal cardiac output, preload and maternal blood volume increase and systemic vascular resistance decreases [5]. These changes are necessary for the continuation of pregnancy and the health of the fetus. Most of the changes occur during pregnancy however, these changes return to normal after pregnancy [6].
Recent studies showed that increased parity may cause irreversible changes in cardiovascular system [7, 8]. Left ventricular diastolic functions deteriorate during pregnancy and this is associated with increased cardiovascular mortality [9-11]. Diastolic function and other cardiovascular changes tend to return to normal however as the parity increases, diastolic parameters are affected and these reversible changes may become permanent [6, 12].
In this study, we aimed to evaluate echocardiographic changes on women, especially grand multiparous (up to 9 parities) and great grand multiparous (more than 10 parities) women after all their pregnancies finished.