Primal Health Databank: Study
Entry No: | 0974 |
Title: | Pre-eclampsia is associated with increased risk of stroke in the adult offspring: the Helsinki birth cohort study. |
Author(s): | Kajantie E, Eriksson JG, et al |
Reference: | Stroke. 2009 Apr;40(4):1176-80. doi: 10.1161/STROKEAHA.108.538025. Epub 2009 Mar 5. |
Place of Study: | Finland |
Abstract: | The authors traced 6410 babies born in Helsinki, Finland, from 1934 to 1944. They used the mothers' blood pressure levels and the presence of proteinuria during pregnancy to define pre-eclampsia and gestational hypertension without proteinuria according to modern criteria.
Two hundred eighty-four of the pregnancies were complicated by pre-eclampsia (120 with nonsevere and 164 with severe disease) and 1592 by gestational hypertension. The crude hazard ratio for all forms of stroke among people whose mothers had pre-eclampsia was 1.9 (1.2 to 3.0; P=0.01); among people whose mothers had gestational hypertension, it was 1.4 (1.0 to 1.8; P=0.03). There was no evidence that these pregnancy disorders were associated with coronary heart disease in the offspring. Pre-eclampsia, in particular severe disease, was associated with a reduced mean head circumference at birth, whereas gestational hypertension was associated with an increased head circumference in relation to body length.
People born after pregnancies complicated by pre-eclampsia or gestational hypertension are at increased risk of stroke. The underlying processes may include a local disorder of the blood vessels of the brain as a consequence of either reduced brain growth or impaired brain growth leading to "brain-sparing" responses in utero. |
Keyword(s): | pre-eclampsia, preeclampsia, stroke |
Discussion: | No discussion mentioned for this entry |
See Also: | No related entries mentioned for this entry |
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