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Am J Perinatol 2023; 40(04): 363-374
DOI: 10.1055/s-0041-1728823
Review Article

The Impact of Maternal Preeclampsia and Hyperglycemia on the Cardiovascular Health of the Offspring: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Zahra Hoodbhoy 
1   Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, The Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan
,
Nuruddin Mohammed
2   Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan
,
Karim Rizwan Nathani
3   Division of Women and Child Health, The Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan
,
Saima Sattar
1   Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, The Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan
,
Devyani Chowdhury
4   Nemours AI Dupont Children’s Hospital, Wilmington, Delaware
,
Shiraz Maskatia
5   Department of Paediatrics, Stanford University, Stanford, California
,
Seda Tierney
5   Department of Paediatrics, Stanford University, Stanford, California
,
Babar Hasan
1   Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, The Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan
,
Jai K. Das
3   Division of Women and Child Health, The Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan
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Abstract

Objectives The objective of this review was to assess the impact of maternal preeclampsia or hyperglycemia on the body composition and cardiovascular health in the offspring.

Study Design We conducted a systematic review utilizing PubMed, EBSCO, CINAHLPlus, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science to include all studies assessing the impact of preeclampsia/eclampsia and/or gestational/pregestational diabetes mellitus on the health of the offspring (children <10 years of age). The health measures included anthropometry, cardiac dimensions and function, and vascular function. We performed a meta-analysis using Review Manager software and computed net risk ratio (RR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) for dichotomous data and mean difference (MD) with 95% CI for continuous data.

Results There were 6,376 studies in total, of which 45 were included in the review and 40 in the meta-analysis. The results demonstrated higher birth weight (MD: 0.12 kg; 95% CI: 0.06–0.18) and systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP; MD: 5.98 mm Hg; 95% CI: 5.64–6.32 and MD: 3.27 mm Hg; 95% CI: 0.65–5.89, respectively) in the offspring of mothers with gestational diabetes compared to controls. In contrast, the offspring of mothers with preeclampsia had lower birth weight (MD: −0.41 kg; 95% CI: −0.7 to −0.11); however, they had increased systolic (MD: 2.2 mm Hg; 95% CI: 1.28–3.12) and diastolic BP (MD: 1.41 mm Hg; 95% CI: 0.3–2.52) compared to controls. There is lack of data to conduct a meta-analysis of cardiac morphology, functional, and vascular imaging parameters.

Conclusion These findings suggest that the in-utero milieu can have a permanent impact on the body composition and vascular health of the offspring. Future work warrants multicenter prospective studies to understand the mechanism and the actual effect of exposure to maternal hyperglycemia and high BP on the cardiovascular health of the offspring and long-term outcomes.

Key Points

  • Adverse in-utero exposures may have an impact on cardiovascular risk in children.

  • Maternal hyperglycemia/preeclampsia lead to changes in birthweight and BP.

  • Limited echocardiographic and vascular imaging data in these cohorts necessitates future work.

Keywords

hyperglycemia - preeclampsia - in-utero exposure - cardiovascular health - children - vascular health

Supplementary Material



Publication History

Received: 22 July 2020

Accepted: 02 March 2021

Article published online:
03 May 2021

© 2021. Thieme. All rights reserved.

Thieme Medical Publishers, Inc.
333 Seventh Avenue, 18th Floor, New York, NY 10001, USA

 

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