

Have preeclampsia or certain chronic illnesses including hypertension, diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease or other vascular diseases.Having thrombophilia (an inherited blood clotting disorder).Have a family or personal history of VTE.Who is most at risk for deep vein thrombosis (DVT)? Other factors that can contribute to DVT during pregnancy may include an enlarged uterus, which increases pressure on the veins that return the blood to the heart from the lower body, as well as lack of movement due to bed rest. Rapid or irregular heartbeat Why is deep vein thrombosis (DVT) more common in pregnancy and postpartum?ĭVT may be more common during pregnancy because nature, wisely wanting to limit bleeding at childbirth, tends to increase the blood’s clotting ability around birth - occasionally too much.Įxperts do know that during pregnancy, the level of blood-clotting proteins increases, while anti-clotting protein levels get lower.Chest pain that gets worse when you take a deep breath or cough.If the blood clot has moved to the lungs and you have PE, you may experience: Tenderness, warmth and/or redness in the calf or thigh.A heavy or painful feeling in the leg (a lot of people say that it feels like a really bad pulled muscle that doesn’t go away).The most common symptoms of deep vein thrombosis during pregnancy and postpartum usually occur in just one leg and include: What are the signs of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) during pregnancy and postpartum?

By eight weeks postpartum, your risk should drop back to normal. While those numbers make it a relatively uncommon complication, VTE actually crops up about four to five times more frequently in expecting women than in other women of the same age - and 20 times more frequently in the six weeks after birth.

Venous thromboembolism (VTE), which includes both deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism, occurs in about two in every 1,000 pregnancies. How common is deep vein thrombosis (DVT)? Early treatment can keep a clot from breaking off and traveling through the circulatory system to the lungs (called a pulmonary embolism, or PE), which can be life-threatening. During pregnancy, up to 90 percent of DVTs occur in the left leg. What is deep vein thrombosis (DVT)?ĭeep vein thrombosis, or DVT, is the development of a blood clot in a deep vein. Here’s what you need to know about DVT to protect your health and your baby’s during and after pregnancy.
