Summary
- Having mitochondrial disease (mito) may increase your risk of health problems during pregnancy. One reason for this is that your body needs to produce more energy during this time.
- For many women with mito, pregnancy and childbirth don’t seriously affect their health.
- For others, mito symptoms can worsen during pregnancy, and some pregnancy complications may be more likely in women with mito. Most of these women make a full recovery after giving birth.
- While most women with mito have a smooth pregnancy and have a healthy baby. It’s important to get specialised care and advice before, during, and after pregnancy.
General advice when preparing for pregnancy
There are steps all women can take to ensure they start their pregnancies in the best possible health.
More information on planning for pregnancy from the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists can be found here.
I think it is so important that new parents with mito use their ‘village’ as much as possible. The societal pressure, late nights and breastfeeding were very demanding on my body. You can only be a good parent if you look after yourself.
- Alice, adult with mito - 2024
Pregnancy guidelines for mito
This summary is to help you understand the recommended pregnancy care for women with mito. You can use this summary and the full publication to start a conversation with your health care team.
The recommendations are:
About the guidelines
The pregnancy guidelines for mito come from a paper by a team of Australian health professionals published in 2024. They work in pregnancy, mito, obstetric medicine, and genetics. This writing group also had a mito consumer representative. The team conducted an extensive literature review of all published research on this topic. They found five studies and 19 case reports about pregnancy and mito. A case report is a detailed account of the medical experience of a single person with mito.
The paper is called “Pregnancy in women with mitochondrial disease – a literature review and suggested guidance for preconception and pregnancy care”. This publicly-available guideline is the first of its kind in Australia. It builds on similar guidelines published in the United Kingdom in 2013. The goal is to help women with mito and their health professionals make informed decisions about pregnancy and childbirth.
This important work was part of the mitoHOPE pilot program for mitochondrial donation. The mitoHOPE program is supported by The Medical Research Future Fund through the Emerging Priorities and Consumer Driven Research Initiative.
Listen to an expert about
pregnancy and mito
Professor Lisa Hui, a Professorial Fellow in Maternal Fetal Medicine, discussed guidance for pregnancy and mito during a Manging Mito Webinar. The event was recorded on Monday, November 11, 2024. It is available to watch, listen to, or read about.
Disclaimer: Resources provided by the Australian Mitochondrial Disease Foundation Limited (Mito Foundation), offers general information and is not a substitute for medical advice. It is essential to assess the suitability of the content for your individual circumstances and make decisions based on your medical condition. The information’s accuracy is subject to change, and we do not guarantee ongoing currency or availability. While efforts are made to ensure accuracy, Mito Foundation is not obligated to provide updated information. The copyright for this document and its content belongs to, or is licensed to, Mito Foundation, and reproduction without prior written consent is prohibited.
Acknowledgement: Mito Foundation acknowledges the valuable contributions of our reviewers, we thank Professor Lisa Hui, Professorial Fellow, Maternal Fetal Medicine at the Mercy Hospital for Women for her review. As well as Diane, Kim, Alice, and Michelle, members of the mito community resource review panel.
Author: Mito Foundation
Version: 1
Date published: 19 September 2024
Last update: 11 November 2024
