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Pre-eclampsia and offspring's blood pressure, cognitive ability and physical development at 17-years-of-age
1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Sheba Medical Center, Tel-Hashomer, Israel.
Insights
Maternal pre-eclampsia in pregnancy may increase the risk of hypertension in offspring by late adolescence. However, it does not appear to negatively impact their physical growth or intelligence.
Area of Science:
- Obstetrics and Gynecology
- Pediatrics
- Cardiology
Background:
- Pre-eclampsia is a serious pregnancy complication.
- Long-term effects of pre-eclampsia on offspring are not fully understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the long-term influence of maternal pre-eclampsia on offspring's blood pressure, physique, and intelligence at age 17.
Main Methods:
- Utilized data from 17-year-old assessments for military conscription and maternal pregnancy records.
- Compared outcomes in offspring of mothers with pre-eclampsia (145 girls, 283 boys) versus controls (12,701 girls, 20,416 boys).
- Assessed systolic/diastolic blood pressure, BMI, height, and intelligence scores.
Main Results:
- Offspring of mothers with pre-eclampsia showed higher rates of systolic blood pressure >140 mmHg, particularly girls (OR 2.30).
- Study boys had a higher mean body mass index than controls.
- No significant differences were found in intelligence scores between groups.
Conclusions:
- Maternal pre-eclampsia is associated with an increased risk of hypertension in offspring at late adolescence.
- Pre-eclampsia does not appear to impair physical growth or cognitive performance by age 17.
Objective:
To investigate the influence of maternal pre-eclampsia on the blood pressure, physique and intelligence of the offspring at the age of 17 years.
Design:
Data obtained at the age of 17 during assessment for drafting to the Israel Defence Forces and from the records of the mothers' pregnancies from the Jerusalem Perinatal Study.
Subjects:
Study subjects were 145 girls and 283 boys whose mothers had had pre-eclampsia and controls were 12,701 girls and 20,416 boys whose mothers did not have pre-eclampsia.
Main Outcome Measures:
Systolic and diastolic blood pressure, weight, height and intelligence scores at the age of 17 were related to birthweight and the occurrence of pre-eclampsia during their mothers' pregnancies.
Results:
Systolic blood pressure was greater than 140 mmHg in 6.9 and 11.0% of the study girls and boys, compared with 2.9 and 9.9% of the control girls and boys. The study boys but not the girls had a higher mean body mass index than the controls (P less than 0.001). There were no differences in the intelligence scores. Using multiple logistic regression to allow for the confounding effects of body mass index, weight and birthweight, the odds ratio for the risk of a systolic pressure greater than 140 mmHg was 2.30 (95% CI 1.80-4.46) for the study girls but was not significantly increased for the study boys.
Conclusion:
Maternal pre-eclampsia does not impair growth and cognitive performance in the children who reach late adolescence but may be associated with hypertension.