Hypertensive Disorders in Pregnancy and Paternal Cardiovascular Risk: A Population-Based Study

Abstract

It has been suggested that paternal genes may contribute to the risk of maternal hypertensive disorders in pregnancy and that genes associated with cardiovascular disease could be involved in the etiology of maternal hypertensive disorders in pregnancy. If these genes are of fetal origin, one would expect that paternal cardiovascular risk factors are associated with the fathering of pregnancies in which the mothers experience hypertensive disorders. Thus, we have studied 14,130 offspring and parents in Norway (1967-1997) to assess whether the fathering of pregnancies complicated by hypertensive disorders in the mother is associated with paternal cardiovascular risk factors. In a population-based study of 14,130 family units, data on parental cardiovascular risk factors (blood pressure, body mass index, waist circumference, nonfasting serum lipids and glucose) collected in the Norwegian Hunt Study (1995-1997) were linked to pregnancy data from the Medical Birth Registry of Norway (1967-1997). Multiple linear regression methods were used, and all analyses were adjusted for lifestyle factors likely to be shared by the parents. There was no association between hypertensive disorders in pregnancy and paternal cardiovascular risk factors. We found no evidence that the fathering of pregnancies complicated by hypertensive disorders in the mother is associated with an unfavorable paternal cardiovascular risk profile.