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Pregnancy hypertension and the risk for neuropsychological difficulties across early development: A brief report

Mark Wade1, Jennifer M Jenkins1

  • 1a Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development , University of Toronto , Toronto , ON , Canada.

Child Neuropsychology : a Journal on Normal and Abnormal Development in Childhood and Adolescence
|October 17, 2014
PubMed

Insights

Maternal hypertension during pregnancy was linked to poorer social cognition and executive functioning in children up to 4.5 years old. These findings highlight the importance of monitoring maternal health for child neurodevelopmental outcomes.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Maternal-Fetal Medicine

Background:

  • Limited understanding of the link between maternal pregnancy hypertension and child neuropsychological development.
  • Pregnancy hypertension may impact fetal brain development, but specific outcomes are unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the association between maternal hypertension during pregnancy and children's social cognition and executive functioning.
  • To assess these outcomes at multiple early childhood time points (18 months, 3 years, 4.5 years).

Main Methods:

  • Community sample of 501 families, with 23 mothers experiencing pregnancy hypertension.
  • Social cognition and executive functioning assessed using standardized and observational tasks.
  • Maternal report collected for pregnancy and prenatal factors.

Main Results:

  • Maternal hypertension during pregnancy was associated with deficits in social cognition, theory of mind (ToM), and executive functioning (EF) in children.
  • These associations remained significant after controlling for prenatal and demographic covariates.
  • A matched control group analysis confirmed the negative impact of pregnancy hypertension on child social-cognitive and EF development.

Conclusions:

  • Pregnancy hypertension poses risks to children's social-cognitive and executive functioning development.
  • Early identification and management of maternal hypertension are crucial for optimizing child neurodevelopment.
  • Further research using obstetrical records is recommended to validate these preliminary findings.

Keywords:
Executive functioningIntrauterine environmentPregnancy hypertensionSocial cognitionTheory of mind

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