UMKC and Saint Luke’s to Lead Nationwide Study on Pregnant People with Heart Disease to Combat Maternal Deaths and Illnesses

$7.9 million grant is largest NIH award in university history

The University of Missouri-Kansas CityHealthcare Institute for Innovations in Quality and Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute today announced a nationwide four-year study of U.S. pregnant women with heart disease to better understand and combat maternal deaths and illnesses. The National Institutes of Health awarded $7.9 million to UMKC HI-IQ, the largest NIH grant the university has received so far.

The U.S. has the highest maternal mortality rate of any industrialized nation, and the only country whose rate is increasing, and cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of maternal death. While only 2% to 4% of pregnancies are in people with pre-existing cardiovascular disease, they account for more than a third of maternal deaths. These adverse events disproportionately impact Black, Hispanic, American Indian/Alaskan Native and Asian/Pacific Islander pregnancies.

The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute awarded UMKC HI-IQ funding for the study, Heart Outcomes in Pregnancy Expectations (HOPE) for Mom and Baby, which will enroll 1,000 pregnant women with cardiovascular disease from 36 confirmed enrolling sites nationwide, to study their care and outcomes.

HOPE will be the first U.S. study to describe the care and outcomes of pregnant individuals with heart disease to better understand the patient characteristics, treatment and organization of healthcare delivery that most influence these outcomes so that standardized-care protocols can be developed and disseminated to combat the United States' tragically high rate of heart-related deaths and illnesses.

HOPE was initiated as a two-site pilot by Saint Luke's Hospital of Kansas City in 2019 at Saint Luke's Hospital and Massachusetts GeneralHospital in Boston.

Philanthropic gifts from the Muriel McBrien Kauffman Family Foundation, the Victor E. Speas Foundation, Bank of America, N.A., Trustee and Saint Luke's Hospital Auxiliary provided the runway for the institute's nationwide HOPE study, said Anna Grodzinsky (B.L.A. '08/M.D. '09, M.S. '15.), cardiologist at Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute and associate professor of medicine at UMKC.

"Heart disease is responsible for more than a third of all pregnancy-related deaths in the U.S., yet we lack research that has followed this patient population," Grodzinsky said. "The HOPE study will help us gain a better understanding of how we as providers can better care for these patients in a more standardized way in an effort to lower the risk of adverse outcomes."

Grodzinsky was a co-principal investigator in the pilot phase along with Karen Florio, D.O., M.P.H., a maternal-fetal medicine specialist at both UMKC and the University of Missouri, now a co-principal investigator on the expanded study. Both will co-lead HOPE with principal investigator John Spertus, M.D., M.P.H., UMKC HI-IQ founder and director, clinical director of outcomes research at Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute, a UMKC professor of medicine and the Daniel J. Lauer/Missouri Endowed Chair in Metabolic and Vascular Disease Research.

"The HOPE study will generate important new insights into the care of pregnant people with cardiovascular disease," Spertus said. "We anticipate generating two key contributions: patient-level prediction models of adverse clinical outcomes and defining the structures of cardio-obstetrics care that are independently associated with better outcomes. Both lay the foundation for improving care for these high-risk patients."

"Guided by patients with lived experience and committed experts, the HOPE study will support improvements in patient-level care by developing risk models that can be used to support evidence-based protocols while also guiding the enrolling centers on how best to organize cardio-obstetrics care to optimize outcomes and minimize disparities," Florio said. "The study will further our understanding of the nuanced care needed for pregnant people with heart disease."

About the University of Missouri-Kansas City Healthcare Institute for Innovations in Quality
Since 2017, the team of UMKC Healthcare Institute for Innovations in Quality, or UMKC HI-IQ, has worked with a network of providers, payers, patients and nonprofit organizations to identify strategies to improve the value (better care at lower cost) and equity of healthcare in Kansas City. For more information about the institute, visit healthcareinstitute.umkc.edu.

About Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute
Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute is part of Saint Luke's Health System, which serves the West Region of BJC Health System, one of the largest nonprofit health care organizations in the United States. The Heart Institute, a teaching affiliate of the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine, is one of the most distinguished cardiovascular programs in the country. Its legacy of innovation began more than 40 years ago when it opened as the nation's first freestanding heart hospital. Since then, the nearly 200 board-certified specialists and cardiovascular experts have earned a global reputation for excellence in the treatment of heart disease, including interventional cardiology, cardiovascular surgery, imaging, heart failure, transplant, heart disease prevention, cardio-oncology, cardiometabolic disease, women's heart disease, electrophysiology, outcomes research, and health economics by being the third hospital in the U.S. to achieve Comprehensive Cardiac Center certification from The Joint Commission.

In 2023, the Heart Institute completed its 1,000^th heart transplant, making it one of only 23 advanced programs to have reached this milestone.

About the University of Missouri-Kansas City
The University of Missouri-Kansas City, one of four University of Missouri campuses, is a public research university serving more than 15,500 undergraduate, graduate and professional students. UMKC engages with the community and world based on its mission: placing student success at the center; leading in life and health sciences; advancing regional engagement; excelling in visual and performing arts; and promoting research and economic development. For more information about UMKC, visit umkc.edu.