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ca r d i a c failure, a ssoc iated with postpartum hypertension arc
a i ndica t or s of t he impo rtant r ole the d i sease may play i n
c a us i ng pu e rperal morbid i ty i n Afri ca [194, 195, 204 ] _
Hypertensive d isease in pregnancy o r during the
puerperium has been o bs e rv e d to be recurrent a nd i s also
k.nown , in some cases , to progress t o ch ron ic hypertension
[205 , 20 6 ] . Prevent i ve strategies to c on trol hy pe r ten s i ve
dis ea s e in females , and e s pe cially i n Afri c a, mus t pay
attention t o the hypertensive disorders of the child b e aring
ye ars . Because mo s t c ase s o f p ostpar tum hypert ension a re
s ilent a nd be cause current postpartum c are practices i n mos t
de ve l op i ng c ou nt ries, do not en tai l freq uent clinic
attendances as occura i n late pregnancy, t he cond.it ion ma y go
undetected until much later when s i gn ificant da mage has
occurred . More research therefore is urgently ne ed ed, to
de scr i b e the inci de nce of the co nd i tion. and also its natura l
his t or y i n Af r i c a and other developing c ommunitie s .
Peri-partum. Ca r dia c Failure :
66
Si nc e the 1930 ' s , there have been reports of po s t partum
c ardiac f ail u r e of uncertain c ause in predomi nan t l y black
SUbj ec t s wi t h norma l uneventful preg na ncies [204, 207 , 208 ] .
More recently the co nd i tion , has been called pe ri-pa r t um
c a r d i ac failure as studies have shown that the d i s e a s e
presents i n the tllird trimester in some cases [ 19 4,209 , 210).