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Researchers link sudden cardiac death to placenta thinness at birth
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Sudden cardiac death was found to be associated with a thin placenta at birth in men and women, according to results of a recent study.
Researchers examined records of 6,075 men and 6,370 women in the Helsinki Birth Cohort with a birth date from 1934 to 1944. All were born in Helsinki and attended child welfare clinics. Records included placental weight, length and breadth of placental surface, birth weight of the child, and the child’s head circumference and length.
When researchers examined sudden death records of the same cohort, 187 men (2.7%) and 47 women (0.7%) experienced sudden cardiac death outside the hospital. Rate of sudden cardiac death increased with placental thinness among men and women for each gram per centimeter-squared decrease in thickness (HR=1.47; 95% CI, 1.11-1.93), according to the study abstract. None of the men or women had hospital records of previous CVD. Researchers also found an independent association between sudden death and poor educational attainment (P<.0001).
These associations were independent of socioeconomic status in later life, the researchers reported.
“Our new findings suggest that sudden death may be initiated by the impaired development of the autonomic nervous system in the womb, due to placental thinness. A thin placenta may result in fetal malnutrition, due to a shallow invasion of the spiral arteries in the placenta which provide nutrients and blood to the baby. There is evidence that people who experience fetal malnutrition and who are small at birth have an increased sympopathoadrenal response to acute stress, which is known to be linked to death from cardiac arrest,” David Barker, MD, PhD, of the University of Southampton, said in a press release.
Disclosure: Barker reports no relevant financial disclosures.
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