Hypertension during pregnancy may increase the risk of stroke in children! A study of 5.8 million people in Sweden and Finland

Having high blood pressure during pregnancy increases the risk of the child developing high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes later in life.

A recent study of 5.8 million children found that if their mothers had high blood pressure or preeclampsia during pregnancy, they had an increased risk of stroke in their 40s.

Studies have shown that children whose mothers have gestational hypertension during pregnancy will have a 29% increased risk of ischemic heart disease and a 33% increased risk of stroke in adulthood, and this has nothing to do with premature birth or fetal growth restriction.

In-depth analysis of siblings from the same mother showed that offspring with mothers who had pregnancy-induced hypertension still had an increased risk of stroke, but this correlation was not seen in ischemic heart disease.

The researchers note that this persistent increase in stroke risk suggests a direct in utero effect.

The researchers said that this study is an observational study and cannot draw a causal relationship. If the results are confirmed by further research, it will help to take proactive measures to prevent cardiovascular disease risks in the offspring of women with gestational hypertension.

This study included 5.8 million singleton live births from two national registry cohorts in Sweden (1973-2014) and Finland (1987-2014), followed up from delivery to 2014. Pregnancy-induced hypertension syndrome includes hypertension and preeclampsia.

Of these 5.8 million people, 218,322 had mothers with hypertension and preeclampsia during pregnancy. During the 41-year follow-up period, 2,340 people developed ischemic heart disease and 5,360 people suffered from stroke.

When analyzing the data, the researchers not only took into account factors such as the child's birth month, sex, congenital malformations, as well as the mother's age, sex, parity, marital status, education level, body mass index, smoking in early pregnancy, and family history of cardiovascular disease, but also repeated the analysis after excluding children who were born prematurely or had fetal growth restriction (both of which are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease), and conducted a sibling analysis to control for the influence of potential genetic and family environmental factors.

Source: Hypertension during pregnancy is associated with increased risk of stroke in offspring. ESC. 01 Jun 2021.