Impact of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy on offspring cardiovascular function: from fetal life to early childhood

ABSTRACT Objective Epidemiological studies suggest that, following in‐utero exposure to hypertensive disorder of pregnancy (HDP), children may be at increased long‐term cardiovascular risk, but data in early childhood are lacking. We aimed to investigate the independent influence of HDP on infant cardiac structure and function, after accounting for differences in childhood risk‐factor profile. Methods This was a longitudinal study of 71 children born of a pregnancy complicated by HDP (gestational hypertension or pre‐eclampsia) and 304 children born of a normotensive pregnancy. Detailed cardiovascular assessment was performed at mid gestation and at a median of 2.3 (interquartile range, 2.1–2.4) years postnatally. Linear mixed‐effects modeling was used to determine the independent influence of HDP on infant cardiac function and structure after accounting for differences in childhood risk‐factor profile. Results There were no differences in demographic characteristics between children whose mother developed HDP and those born of a normotensive pregnancy, but delivery was earlier and birth weight was lower in the HDP group. In fetal life, there were no significant differences in cardiac function or structure between the HDP and non‐HDP groups. In early childhood, in the HDP group compared with the non‐HDP group, there was greater relative wall thickness (mean ± SD, 0.7 ± 0.3 vs 0.6 ± 0.3; P = 0.047) and increased left ventricular mass (indexed to body surface area) (mean ± SD, 80.9 ± 20.4 g/m 2 vs 75.7 ± 16.5 g/m 2 ; P = 0.024); however, these differences did not persist on multivariable analysis. Longitudinal analysis revealed that there was no difference in the change in cardiac functional indices from fetal life to early childhood between the HDP and non‐HDP groups. Conclusion There is no evidence that HDP has an adverse effect on offspring cardiovascular health in fetal life or in early childhood. © 2024 International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology.