Blood Pressure and Angiogenic Markers in Pregnancy: Contributors to Pregnancy-Induced Hypertension and Offspring Cardiovascular Risk

Pregnancy-induced hypertension is a severe pregnancy complication, increasing risk of long-term cardiovascular disease in mothers and offspring. We hypothesized that maternal blood pressure in pregnancy associated with offspring blood pressure; that the associations were sex-specific; and that maternal circulating placental angiogenic markers (PlGF [placental growth factor] and sFlt-1 [soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase-1]) mediated this relationship. We analyzed data from 2434 women and 2217 children from the Odense Child Cohort, a prospective Danish cohort study. Offspring blood pressure trajectory from 4 months to 5 years was highly associated to maternal first, second, and third trimester blood pressure, and mean blood pressure in pregnancy, independent of maternal and offspring covariates. There were offspring sex-specific associationsGirls from mothers in the highest quartile of first and third trimester blood pressure had significantly higher systolic blood pressure at 5 years than the rest of the cohort (mean difference±SEM1.81±0.59 and 2.11±0.59 mm Hg, respectively, all P