Abstract 16839: Maternal Placental Vascular Malperfusion Lesions Associated With Increased Cardiometabolic Risk and Reduced Microvascular Density in Women a Decade After Delivery: Which Placental Features Matter?

Abstract

Introduction: Maternal vascular malperfusion (MVM) lesions in the placenta are commonly found in women with adverse pregnancy outcomes associated with increased CVD in later life. Minimal criteria for MVM include vasculopathy, accelerated villous maturation and increased syncytial knots, and villous infarction upon pathologic examination; expanded definitions have included presence of fibrin deposition (intervillous or perivillous) or low placental weight (<10 th %). Hypothesis: Women with a history of MVM lesions would have evidence of cardiometabolic risk factors and peripheral microvascular changes a decade after delivery independent of pregnancy outcome. Methods: A total of 469 women with placental pathology data available were evaluated at 8-10 years postpartum. Placental specimens were reviewed by a perinatal pathologist. Cardiometabolic variables were measured at the time of the study visit. Sidestream dark field imaging was used to assess the sublingual microcirculation. We compared the median size (diameter) of microvessels, density (total length of perfused microvessels/mm 2 ) and penetration of red cells into the glycocalyx of vessels 5-25μm diameter (perfused boundary region, PBR) in women 8-10 years after pregnancy, using the minimal MVM criteria (compared to none). Expanded criteria were examined alone. Significance =*p<0.05 vs no MVM lesions. Results: Women with minimally defined MVM lesions in their placentas had higher diastolic blood pressure (79mmHg MVM vs. 75 mmHg No MVM*), LDL (111mg/dL MVM vs. 101 mg/dL No MVM*), Cholesterol (185 mg/dL MVM vs. 175mg/dL No MVM*) and insulin (14mg/dL MVM vs. 12mg/dL No MVM*), along with smaller-sized microvessels (median 8.75±1.1 μM vs. 9.06±0.7 μM*), and a lower density of perfused microvessels compared to women without MVM lesions (3590±1260mm/mm 2 MVM vs. 3970±820 mm/mm 2 No MVM*) a decade after delivery. Glycocalyx PBR was smaller in women with prior MVM vs. women without lesions (2.01±0.23μm vs. 2.09±0.15μm, P=0.02). Similar results were not seen in subjects with either presence of fibrin or small placenta in the absence of other MVM criteria. Discussion: Using minimal criteria MVM was associated most strongly with maternal cardiometabolic and microvascular differences a decade later.