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Pregnancy is a physiological process associated with an increased hemodynamic load and cardiac structural remodeling. Limited echocardiographic information exists on cardiac chambers, left ventricular (LV) systolic and diastolic functions, and LV mass during trimesters of normal pregnancy among African women.

Echocardiography was done at the beginning of the second trimester, beginning of the third trimester, and middle of the third trimester for 100 normal pregnant women and at one visit for age-matched 100 nonpregnant women. The data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 17 software. Analysis of variance was used to compare within trimesters, and a P value of <0.05 was considered significant.

The mean (SD) ages of the patients and controls were 28.20 (±5.91) and 28.35 (±6.06) years, respectively (age range = 19 …