Links Between Maternal Cardiovascular Disease and the Health of Offspring

Maternal cardiovascular disease (CVD) during pregnancy is on the rise worldwide, as both more women with congenital heart disease are reaching childbearing age, and conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and obesity are becoming more prevalent. However, the extent to which maternal CVD influences offspring health, as a neonate and later in childhood and adolescence, remains to be fully understood. The thrifty phenotype hypothesis, by which a fetus adapts to maternal and placental changes to survive a nutrient-starved environment, may provide an answer to the mechanism of maternal CVD and its impact on the offspring. In this narrative review, we aim to provide a review of the literature pertaining to the impact of maternal cardiovascular and hypertensive disease on the health of neonates, children, and adolescents. This review demonstrates that maternal CVD leads to higher rates of complications among neonates. Ultimately, our review supports the hypothesis that maternal CVD leads to intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), which, through the thrifty phenotype hypothesis and vascular remodelling, can have health repercussions, including an impact on CVD risk, both in the immediate newborn period as well as later throughout the life of the offspring. Further research remains crucial in elucidating the mechanism of maternal CVD long-term effects on offspring, as further understanding could lead to preventive measures to optimise offspring health, including modifiable lifestyle changes. Potential treatments for this at-risk offspring group could mitigate risk, but further studies to provide evidence are needed. La fréquence des maladies cardiovasculaires (MCV) maternelles pendant la grossesse augmente dans le monde entier du fait que de plus en plus de femmes présentant des cardiopathies congénitales atteignent l’âge de procréer et que des maladies comme le diabète, l’hypertension et l’obésité sont de plus en plus répandues. Toutefois, l’ampleur du retentissement des MCV maternelles sur la santé de la progéniture, au cours de la période néonatale et plus tard dans l’enfance et l’adolescence, n’est pas entièrement élucidée. L’hypothèse du phénotype économe, selon laquelle un fœtus s’adapte aux changements maternels et placentaires pour survivre dans un environnement où l’apport en nutriments est limité, pourrait expliquer le mécanisme des MCV maternelles et son effet sur la progéniture. Nous présentons ici une revue narrative de la littérature consacrée à l’