Maternal Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in Pregnancy and Offspring Blood Pressure at Age 2 to 18 Years

Higher blood pressure in early life may signal cardiovascular disease over the life course, but determinants of blood pressure in early life are poorly understood.

To examine the association of maternal cardiometabolic risk factors during pregnancy with offspring blood pressure from age 2 to 18 years and explore whether the association is modified by offspring sex and race and ethnicity.

This cohort study analyzed data from the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes program between January 1, 1994, and March 31, 2023. Three common maternal cardiometabolic risk factors during pregnancy were examined: prepregnancy obesity, gestational diabetes, and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP).

Maternal cardiometabolic risk factors were retrieved and harmonized from medical records and questionnaires.

Offspring systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) percentiles adjusted for age, sex, and height were calculated.

Among 12 480 mother-offspring pairs (mean [SD] maternal age during pregnancy, 29.9 [6.4] years; 856 of 12 303 identifying as Asian [7.0%]; 1908 as Black [15.5%]; 2305 as Hispanic [18.7%]; 6522 as White [52.3%], and 712 as other [5.8%] race and ethnicity), at least 1 maternal cardiometabolic risk factor was present in 5537 (44.4%), with prepregnancy obesity being the most prevalent (3072 [24.6%]), followed by HDP (1693 [13.6%]) and gestational diabetes (805 [6.5%]). Offspring born to mothers with any cardiometabolic risk factors had higher SBP (4.88 percentile points; 95% CI, 3.97-5.82 percentile points) and higher DBP (1.90 percentile points; 95% CI, 1.15-2.64 percentile points) at their first blood pressure measurement, after adjusting for potential confounders, compared with their counterparts without any risk factors. Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, alone or with either prepregnancy obesity or gestational diabetes, was significantly associated with higher offspring blood pressure. These associations were generally more significant among female compared with male offspring and among Black compared with other racial and ethnic groups. Among 6015 offspring who had 2 or more blood pressure measures, maternal cardiometabolic risk factors were associated with an increased rate of blood pressure change from age 2 to 18 years (SBP percentile, 0.5 [95% CI, 0.2-0.8] per year; DBP percentile, 0.7 [95% CI 0.5-1.0] per year).

These findings suggest that protecting pregnant individuals from cardiometabolic risk factors may promote healthier blood pressure in the next generation.