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Updated: Feb 13, 2026

Fetal Echocardiography and Pulsed-wave Doppler Ultrasound in a Rabbit Model of Intrauterine Growth Restriction
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Fetal Echocardiography and Pulsed-wave Doppler Ultrasound in a Rabbit Model of Intrauterine Growth Restriction

Published on: June 29, 2013

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Intrauterine growth restriction - impact on cardiovascular diseases later in life

Carlos Menendez-Castro1, Wolfgang Rascher2, Andrea Hartner2

  • 1Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Loschgestrasse 15, 91054, Erlangen, Germany. carlos.menendez-castro@uk-erlangen.de.

Molecular and Cellular Pediatrics
|March 22, 2018
PubMed

Insights

Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) increases neonatal complications and later-life risks for metabolic, renal, and cardiovascular diseases (CVD). This review highlights early cardiovascular changes post-IUGR that may directly lead to CVD.

Area of Science:

  • Fetal Medicine
  • Cardiovascular Science
  • Developmental Biology

Background:

  • Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) is a fetal condition linked to neonatal complications.
  • IUGR is associated with increased risks of metabolic, renal, and cardiovascular diseases (CVD) later in life.
  • A prevailing hypothesis suggests IUGR-induced metabolic changes drive subsequent CVD development.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review recent studies on the direct link between IUGR and early cardiovascular alterations.
  • To explore the hypothesis that primary cardiovascular changes post-IUGR may directly progress to CVD.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review of recent clinical and experimental studies.
  • Analysis of data focusing on early cardiovascular changes in IUGR.
  • Synthesis of findings regarding the progression to CVD.

Main Results:

  • IUGR is associated with significant early primary cardiovascular alterations.
  • These cardiovascular changes appear to be independent of solely metabolic alterations.
  • Evidence suggests a direct pathway from early IUGR-induced cardiovascular changes to later-life CVD.

Conclusions:

  • IUGR initiates primary cardiovascular alterations early in development.
  • These early changes represent a direct pathway to the development of cardiovascular diseases later in life.
  • This perspective shifts focus from metabolic alterations to direct cardiovascular impacts of IUGR.

Keywords:
Cardiovascular diseaseFetal programmingIntrauterine growth restriction

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