Maternal Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in Pregnancy and Offspring Blood Pressure at Age 2 to 18 Years
Authors: Zhongzheng Niu, Ako Adams Ako, Sarah Dee Geiger, Caitlin G. Howe, Wei Perng, Rachana Singh, Margaret R. Karagas, Amy J. Elliott, Andrea Cassidy-Bushrow, Carlos A. Camargo, Keia Sanderson, Cynthia T. McEvoy, Emily Oken, Dana Dabelea, Tina V. Hartert, Brian Carter, Annemarie Stroustrup, Andrea Lampland, Thomas G. O’Connor, Semsa Gogcu, Mark L. Hudak, Lyndsey E. Shorey-Kendrick, Qi Zhao, Yu Ni, Jeffrey VanWormer, Assiamira Ferrara, Monique Hedderson, Yeyi Zhu, Akram Alshawabkeh, Jose Cordero, Daphne Koinis-Mitchell, Susan Carnell, Carrie V. Breton, Theresa M. Bastain, Shohreh F. Farzan, P Brian Smith, L Kristin Newby, Linda Adair, Lisa P. Jacobson, Diane Catellier, Monica McGrath, Christian Douglas, Priya Duggal, Emily Knapp, Amii Kress, Courtney K. Blackwell, Maxwell A. Mansolf, Jin-Shei Lai, Emily Ho, David Cella, Richard Gershon, Michelle L. Macy, Suman R. Das, Jane E. Freedman, Simon A. Mallal, John A. McLean, Ravi V. Shah, Meghan H. Shilts, John Meeker, Leonardo Trasande, Kohei Hasegawa, Zhaozhong Zhu, Ashley F. Sullivan, Traci A. Bekelman, Greta Wilkening, Sheryl Magzamen, Brianna F. Moore, Anne P. Starling, Deborah J. Rinehart, Viren D'Sa, Sean C.L. Deoni, Hans-Georg Mueller, Cristiane S. Duarte, Catherine Monk, Glorisa Canino, Jonathan Posner, Tenneill Murray, Claudia Lugo-Candelas, Anne L. Dunlop, Patricia A. Brennan, Christine Hockett, Lisa A. Croen, John Ainsworth, Leonard B. Bacharier, Casper G. Bendixsen, James E. Gern, Diane R. Gold, Daniel J. Jackson, Christine C. Johnson, Christine  L.M. Joseph, Meyer Kattan, Gurjit K. Khurana Hershey, Robert F. Lemanske, Jr., Susan V. Lynch, Rachel L. Miller, Carole Ober, Dennis Ownby, Katherine Rivera-Spoljaric, Patrick H. Ryan, Christine M. Seroogy, Anne Marie Singh, Robert A. Wood, Edward M. Zoratti, Rima Habre, Shohreh Farzan, Frank D. Gilliland, Irva Hertz-Picciotto, Deborah H. Bennett, Julie B. Schweitzer, Rebecca J. Schmidt, Janine M. LaSalle, Alison E. Hipwell, Catherine J. Karr, Nicole R. Bush, Kaja Z. LeWinn, Sheela Sathyanarayana, Frances Tylavsky, Kecia N. Carroll, Christine T. Loftus, Leslie D. Leve, Jody M. Ganiban, Jenae M. Neiderhiser, Scott T. Weiss, Augusto A. Litonjua, Eliot R. Spindel, Robert S. Tepper, Craig J. Newschaffer, Kristen Lyall, Heather E. Volk, Rebecca Landa, Sally Ozonoff, Joseph Piven, Heather Hazlett, Juhi Pandey, Robert Schultz, Steven Dager, Kelly Botteron, Daniel Messinger, Wendy Stone, Jennifer Ames, Thomas G. O'Connor, Richard K. Miller, Michele R. Hacker, Tamarra James-Todd, T. Michael O'Shea, Rebecca C. Fry, Jean A. Frazier, Caitlin Rollins, Angela Montgomery, Ruben Vaidya, Robert M. Joseph, Lisa K. Washburn, Kelly Bear, Julie V. Rollins, Stephen R. Hooper, Genevieve Taylor, Wesley Jackson, Amanda Thompson, Julie Daniels, Michelle Hernandez, Kun Lu, Michael Msall, Madeleine Lenski, Rawad Obeid, Steven L. Pastyrnak, Elizabeth Jensen, Christina Sakai, Hudson Santos, Jean M. Kerver, Nigel Paneth, Charles J. Barone, Michael R. Elliott, Douglas M. Ruden, Chris Fussman, Julie B. Herbstman, Amy Margolis, Susan L. Schantz, Andrea Aguiar, Karen Tabb, Rita Strakovsky, Tracey Woodruff, Rachel Morello-Frosch, Amy Padula, Joseph B. Stanford, Christina A. Porucznik, Angelo P. Giardino, Rosalind J. Wright, Robert O. Wright, Brent Collett, Nicole Baumann-Blackmore, Ronald Gangnon, Chris G. McKennan, Jo Wilson, Matt Altman, Judy L. Aschner, Stephanie L. Merhar, Paul E. Moore, Gloria S. Pryhuber, Ann Marie Reynolds Lyndaker, Burton Rochelson, Sophia Jan, Matthew J. Blitz, Michelle W. Katzow, Zenobia Brown, Codruta Chiuzan, Timothy Rafael, Dawnette Lewis, Natalie Meirowitz, Brenda Poindexter, Tebeb Gebretsadik, Sarah Osmundson, Jennifer K. Straughen, Amy Eapen, Ganesa Wegienka, Alex Sitarik, Kim Woodcroft, Audrey Urquhart, Albert Levin, Tisa Johnson-Hooper, Brent Davidson, Tengfei Ma, Emily S. Barrett, Martin J. Blaser, Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello, Daniel B. Horton, Manuel Jimenez, Todd Rosen, Kristy Palomares, Lyndsay A. Avalos, Kelly J . Hunt, Roger B. Newman, Michael S. Bloom, Mallory H. Alkis, James R. Roberts, Sunni L. Mumford, Heather H. Burris, Sara B. DeMauro, Lynn M. Yee, Aaron Hamvas, Antonia F. Olidipo, Andrew S. Haddad, Lisa R. Eiland, Nicole T. Spillane, Kirin N. Suri, Stephanie A. Fisher, Jeffrey A. Goldstein, Leena B. Mithal, Raye-Ann O. DeRegnier, Nathalie L. Maitre, Ruby H.N. Nguyen, Meghan  M. JaKa, Abbey C. Sidebottom, Michael J. Paidas, JoNell E. Potter, Natale Ruby, Lunthita Duthely, Arumugam Jayakumar, Karen Young, Isabel Maldonado, Meghan Miller, Jonathan L. Slaughter, Sarah A. Keim, Courtney D. Lynch, Kartik K. Venkatesh, Kristina W. Whitworth, Elaine Symanski, Thomas F. Northrup, Hector Mendez-Figueroa, Ricardo A. Mosquera, Juliette  C. Madan, Debra M. MacKenzie, Johnnye L. Lewis, Brandon J. Rennie, Bennett L. Leventhal, Young Shin Kim, Somer Bishop, Sara S. Nozadi, Li Luo, Barry M. Lester, Carmen J. Marsit, Todd Everson, Cynthia M. Loncar, Elisabeth C. McGowan, Stephen J. Sheinkopf, Jennifer Check, Jennifer B. Helderman, Charles R. Neal, Lynne M. Smith
Journal: JAMA Network Open (2025)

Importance 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. Objective 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. Design, Setting, and Participants 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). Exposure Maternal cardiometabolic risk factors were retrieved and harmonized from medical records and questionnaires. Main Outcomes and Measures Offspring systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) percentiles adjusted for age, sex, and height were calculated. Results 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). Conclusions and Relevance These findings suggest that protecting pregnant individuals from cardiometabolic risk factors may promote healthier blood pressure in the next generation.