• Åse Vårtun, Kari Flo, and Ganesh Acharya.
• Women's Health and Perinatology Research Group, Department of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Tromsø and Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology University Hospital of Northern Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
• Plos One. 2014 Jan 1;9(4):e94629.

ObjectiveTo investigate functional hemodynamic response to passive leg raising in healthy pregnant women and compare it with non-pregnant controls.Materials And MethodsThis was a prospective cross-sectional study with a case-control design. A total of 108 healthy pregnant women at 22-24 weeks of gestation and 54 non-pregnant women were included. Cardiac function and systemic hemodynamics were studied at baseline and 90 seconds after passive leg raising using non-invasive impedance cardiography.Main Outcome MeasuresTrends and magnitudes of changes in impedance cardiography derived parameters of cardiac function and systemic hemodynamics caused by passive leg raising, and preload responsiveness defined as >10% increase in stroke volume or cardiac output after passive leg raising compared to baseline.ResultsThe hemodynamic parameters in both pregnant and non-pregnant women changed significantly during passive leg raising compared to baseline, but the magnitude and trend of change was similar in both groups. The stroke volume increased both in pregnant (p = 0.042) and non-pregnant (p = 0.018) women, whereas the blood pressure and systemic vascular resistance decreased (p<0.001) following passive leg raising in both groups. Only 14.8% of pregnant women and 18.5% of non-pregnant women were preload responsive and the difference between groups was not significant (p = 0.705).ConclusionStatic measures of cardiovascular status are different between healthy pregnant and non-pregnant women, but the physiological response to passive leg raising is similar and not modified by pregnancy at 22-24 weeks of gestation. Whether physiological response to passive leg raising is different in earlier and later stages of pregnancy merit further investigation.

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