Abstract
Preeclampsia (PE) is a major disease of pregnancy, with various short- or long-term complications for both the mother and offspring. We focused on the body mass index (BMI) of offspring and compared the incidence of obesity during early childhood between PE- and non-PE-affected pregnancies. Women with singleton births (n = 1,697,432) were identified from the Korea National Health Insurance database. The outcomes of offspring at 30–80 months of age were analyzed. The effects of PE on BMI and the incidence of obesity in the offspring were compared. The incidence of low birth weight (LBW) offspring was higher in the PE group (n = 29,710) than that in the non-PE group (n = 1,533,916) (24.70% vs. 3.33%, p < 0.01). However, BMI was significantly higher in the PE-affected offspring than that in non-PE-affected offspring. After adjusting for various factors, the risk of obesity was higher in the PE-affected offspring (odds ratio = 1.34, 95% confidence interval = 1.30–1.38). The BMI and incidence of obesity were higher during early childhood in the PE-affected offspring, even though the proportion of LBW was higher. These results may support the basic hypotheses for the occurrence of various cardiovascular and metabolic complications in PE-affected offspring. In addition, early-age incidence of obesity could influence PE management and child consultation in clinical applications.
Highlights
Preeclampsia (PE) is one of the most complex medical complications of pregnancy and is characterized by new-onset hypertension (HTN) and proteinuria after 20 weeks of gestation that affects approximately 2–8% of pregnant women worldwide [1,2]
HTN or diabetes mellitus (DM) compared to women without PE pregnancy (n = 1,533,916)
We focused on the early childhood body mass index (BMI) of offspring and evaluated the prevalence of obesity after a PE pregnancy using nationwide data from Korea
Summary
Preeclampsia (PE) is one of the most complex medical complications of pregnancy and is characterized by new-onset hypertension (HTN) and proteinuria after 20 weeks of gestation that affects approximately 2–8% of pregnant women worldwide [1,2]. While much is known about the acute maternal and newborn complications in PE pregnancies, there have been few reports on the possible long-term effects [5]. PE has an adverse effect on the cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk profile in the later life of the mother [6,7]. Women who have experienced PE have approximately double the risk of CVD or cerebrovascular disease and three times the risk of HTN [5,6,7,8]. Some studies on the long-term health outcomes of offspring have found worsening of blood pressure, body mass index (BMI), diabetes mellitus (DM), and lipid profiles in adults born after a PE pregnancy [5,10]
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