Maternal exposure to cold spells during pregnancy is associated with higher blood pressure and hypertension in offspring later in life

Abstract

We aimed to investigate whether month of birth is associated with blood pressure (BP) and prevalent hypertension in adults from a region with frost-free days of <150days and average temperatures -13°C in winter, Xinjiang, China. We analyzed data for 6158 subjects from several surveys. We divided participants into April to August (n=2624) and September to March (n=3534) groups, based on length of maternal exposure to cold months, and analyzed BP, prevalent hypertension, and related factors. Diastolic BP in total subjects and systolic and diastolic BP in male subjects born between April and August were significantly higher than in those born between September and March. In sensitivity analysis, untreated males born between April and August showed significantly higher systolic and diastolic BP than did their counterparts. Subjects born between April and August showed significantly higher prevalence of hypertension (31.3% vs 27.8%, P=.003), and isolated systolic (23.3% vs 20.8%, P=.018) and diastolic hypertension (24.5% vs 21.4%, P=.004), than those born between September and March, which is similar for men. Birth between April and August showed 1.68 (95% CI: 1.06-2.67, P=.027)-fold increased odds for the prevalence of hypertension, independent of gender, age, body mass index, waist circumference, cigarette consumption, alcohol intake, and family history, compared with their counterparts. In conclusion, maternal exposure to cold spells during pregnancy may be associated with the increased risk of hypertension in offspring later in life, particularly among males, suggesting the involvement of maternal cold exposure during pregnancy in offspring hypertension development.