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Hypertension in pregnancy may affect child’s cognition in old age
Hypertensive disorders during pregnancy may foretell increased cognitive decline and lower cognitive ability up to old age, according to study results published in the online issue of Neurology.
Researchers in Finland examined records from 398 men in the Helsinki Birth Cohort 1934-1944 Study using the mothers’ blood pressure and urinary protein measurements from maternity clinics and birth hospitals. The mothers’ pregnancies were categorized as normotensive or hypertensive. The men underwent cognitive ability testing measuring verbal, arithmetic and visuospatial reasoning at two intervals in life: once during compulsory military service at about age 20.1 years and again at about age 68.5 years.
Men who were born after a pregnancy complicated by a hypertensive disorder scored 4.36 points (95% CI, 1.17-7.55) lower on total cognitive ability during the test in old age vs. men who were born after normotensive pregnancies. These men also showed a greater decline in total cognitive ability during the first test at age 20.1 years, (2.88; 95% CI, 0.07-5.06).
“High blood pressure and related conditions such as preeclampsia complicate about 10% of all pregnancies and can affect a baby’s environment in the womb,” study researcher Katri Räikkönen, PhD, of the University of Helsinki, Finland, said in a press release. “Our study suggests that even declines in thinking abilities in old age could have originated during the prenatal period when the majority of the development of brain structure and function occurs.”
Disclosure: See the study for a full list of disclosures.