Peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) is a life threatening heart disease which develops towards the end of the pregnancy or in the months following delivery in previously healthy women in terms of cardiac disease. A descriptive longitudinal study was conducted in the department of Cardiology of Jalalabad Ragib-Rabeya Medical College Hospital, Sylhet, Bangladesh during the period from July 2016 to June 2018 with an aim to find out the short term outcome of patients with PPCM. A total of 32 purposively selected patients with peripartum cardiomyopathy were included in the study. The results showed that, the mean age with standard deviation (SD) of the patients was 26.4±4.7 years. Mean body mass index (BMI) was 20±1.8 kg/m². Mean baseline ejection fraction (EF₁) with SD was 35.7±5.3%. The study revealed that, 5 (15.6%) patients with peripartum cardiomyopathy died in the course of treatment. Mean follow up (after one month) ejection fraction (EF₂) with SD was 42.7±11.3%. Paired t-test revealed that, difference between EF₁ and EF₂ is highly significant (p<0.0001). Mitral regurgitation (MR) was present in 20 (62.5%) patient in the baseline echocardiogram and a significant improvement of severity of MR was observed in follow up (P<0.0001). The outcome of PPCM varied widely, ranging from complete recovery to death.

Keywords: Peripartum cardiomyopathy, Dilated cardiomyopathy.