close window
Housecall Archives
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
close window
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Risk factors
By Mayo Clinic staffThere aren't any risk factors for developing an innocent heart murmur.
While there aren't any risk factors for abnormal heart murmurs either, there are risk factors that increase your chance of having an underlying condition that can cause a heart murmur. These include:
- Family history of a heart defect. If blood relatives have had a heart defect, that increases the likelihood you or your child may also have a heart defect and heart murmur.
- Illnesses during pregnancy. Having some conditions during pregnancy, such as uncontrolled diabetes or a rubella infection, increases your baby's risk of developing heart defects and a heart murmur.
- Taking certain medications or illegal drugs during pregnancy. Use of certain medications, alcohol or drugs can harm a developing baby, leading to heart defects.
References
- Heart murmur. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/heartmurmur/hmurmur_all.html. Accessed March 1, 2010.
- Heart murmurs. Nemours Foundation. http://kidshealth.org/kid/health_problems/heart/heart_murmurs.html. Accessed March 1, 2010.
- Holes in the heart. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/holes/holes_all.html. Accessed March 9, 2010.
- O'Rourke RA, et al. The history, physical examination and cardiac auscultation. In: Furster V, et al. Hurst's The Heart. 12th ed. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill Companies; 2008. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=3057807. Accessed March 1, 2010.
- Koo S, et al. Cardiovascular signs and symptoms in evaluating cardiac murmurs in children. Pediatrics International. 2008;50:145.
- Wilson W, et al. Prevention of infective endocarditis: Guidelines from the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2007;116:1736.
Find Mayo Clinic on