Maternal Blood Pressure Rise During Pregnancy and Offspring Obesity Risk at 4 to 7 Years Old: The Jiaxing Birth Cohort

Abstract Context Maternal hypertensive disorders during pregnancy are suggested to affect obesity risk in offspring. However, little is known about the prospective association of rise in maternal blood pressure within normal range during pregnancy with this risk for obesity. Objective To clarify the associations of diastolic and systolic blood pressure during pregnancy among normotensive women with the risk for obesity in offspring. Design Prospective cohort study. Setting Southeast China. Participants Up to 2013, a total of 88,406 mother-child pairs with anthropometric measurements of offspring age 4 to 7 years were included in the present analysis. Main Outcome Measures Overweight/obesity risk in offspring. Results Among normotensive women, second- and third-trimester diastolic and systolic blood pressures were positively associated with risk for overweight/obesity in offspring: odds ratios per 10–mm Hg higher second- and third-trimester diastolic blood pressure were 1.05 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.01 to 1.09] and 1.05 (95% CI, 1.02 to 1.10), respectively, and for systolic blood pressure were 1.08 (95% CI, 1.05 to 1.11) and 1.06 (95% CI, 1.03 to 1.09). Each 10–mm Hg greater rise in blood pressure between first and third trimesters was associated with a higher risk for offspring overweight/obesity: diastolic, 1.06 (95% CI, 1.01 to 1.10); systolic, 1.05 (95% CI, 1.02 to 1.07). Among all women (combining normotensive and hypertensive women), maternal hypertension in the second and third trimesters was associated with 49% and 14% higher risks for overweight/obesity in offspring, respectively. Conclusions These results suggest that rise in maternal blood pressure during pregnancy and hypertension during pregnancy, independent of maternal body size before pregnancy, are risk factors for offspring childhood obesity. This study of found that rise in pregnancy blood pressure was associated with a higher risk for obesity in offspring.