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High LDL during pregnancy may increase CV risk in offspring
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Elevated maternal LDL early in pregnancy is associated with elevated LDL in offspring, researchers found.
The researchers studied children aged 6 to 13 years whose mothers had high LDL (> 90th percentile; n = 27) or low LDL (< 10th percentile; n = 34) in pregnancy. The mothers at the time of pregnancy were not taking cholesterol medications and were not known to have familial hypercholesterolemia.
At gestational weeks 14 to 16, the mothers in the high LDL group had a mean LDL of 4 mmol/L vs. 1.4 mmol/L for those in the low cholesterol group (P < .001).
At gestational weeks 14 to 16 and gestational weeks 36 to 38, the mothers with high LDL had significantly different weight, BMI and BP vs. the mothers with low LDL (P < .05 for all), although percentage increase in weight, LDL and total cholesterol during pregnancy was similar in both groups, according to the researchers.
At age 6 to 13 years, the children from mothers with high LDL early in pregnancy did not differ from children from mothers with low LDL in pregnancy in weight, BMI, visceral fat, hip fat, total body fat, BP or pulse, Jacob J. Christensen, MSc, from the department of nutrition, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Oslo in Norway, and The Lipid Clinic, Oslo University Hospital Rikshospitalet, and colleagues wrote. There was also no difference in birth weight between the two groups of children.
However, according to the researchers, children from mothers with high LDL in pregnancy had higher LDL than those from mothers with low LDL (2.3 mmol/L vs. 1.9 mmol/L; difference, 0.4 mmol/L; P < .01).
Christensen and colleagues also found an association between mother and child LDL (r = 0.378; P < .01), which remained true after adjustment for maternal BMI, triglycerides, child age, sex and most components of metabolic syndrome, with the exception of maternal HDL (P = .056).
Dietary intake did not significantly differ between the groups of children and could not explain the differences in LDL, according to the researchers.
“Unless cholesterol-reducing measures are successfully implemented, the affected children may be at increased [CV] risk,” Christensen and colleagues wrote. – by Erik Swain
Disclosure: Christensen reports no relevant financial disclosures. Please see the full study for a list of the other researchers’ relevant financial disclosures.
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