Independent effects of pregnancy induced hypertension on childhood development: a retrospective cohort study

To assess whether maternal hypertension in pregnancy was independently associated with additional support needs in children.

Retrospective cohort study using linkage of birth records of all singleton deliveries occurring in primigravidae between 1995 and 2008 in Aberdeen Maternity and Neonatal Databank with the Support Needs System (SNS) dataset in Grampian. Crude and adjusted odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals of having a record in SNS in the presence of maternal pregnancy induced hypertension were calculated using logistic regression taking account of confounders such as preterm birth and low birth weight.

After adjusting for confounding factors, neither pre-eclampsia {Adj OR 0.80 (95% CI 0.60, 1.07)} nor gestational hypertension {Adj OR 1.16 (95% CI 0.99, 1.36)} showed statistically significant associations with additional support needs. An association of pre-eclampsia with cerebral palsy seen on univariate analysis also disappeared on adjusting for confounders {Adj OR 1.26 (95% CI 0.43, 3.68)}. Birth before 32 weeks gestation and birthweight below 1500g were independently associated with additional support needs in children.

While maternal hypertension was not found to be independently associated with special needs in children, very preterm birth and very low birthweight showed an association.