Maternal diseases during pregnancy and the offspring’s risk of cardiovascular diseases up to middle-age: continuation of a Nordic collaborative study

Tidsperiod:

1 januari 2025 – 31 december 2026

Projektledare:

Krisztina László

Finansiär:

Hjärt-Lungfonden

Bidragstyp:

Projektbidrag

Budget:

1 000 000 SEK

Background: The burden of cardiovascular diseases (CVD), both in young age and in the general population, continues to rise despite considerable achievements in prevention and treatment. New insights into the development of the disease are needed. According to the theory of the foetal origins of health and disease adverse conditions in utero may program the offspring’s neuroendocrine and metabolic activity and may increase the risk of CVD. The link between preterm birth and foetal growth restriction and CVD risk in adulthood is well-established; these perinatal conditions are in turn often associated with maternal chronic diseases during pregnancy. Whether prenatal exposure to maternal diseases such as diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma or cancer are associated with increased CVD risks in the offspring is unclear, mainly due to lack of good longitudinal data.

Objectives: To study if maternal diseases during pregnancy that have earlier been linked to preterm birth and foetal growth restriction, e.g. diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis asthma and cancer are associated with overall CVD, as well as ischaemic heart diseases, cerebrovascular diseases, heart failure and atrial fibrillation risk in the offspring up to the age of 52 years.

Work plan: We will study live births in the Danish (1978-2024), the Finnish (1987-2014) and the Swedish birth registries (1973-2014) (N=90000000). Data on health and socioeconomic factors in children, parents and other relatives is obtained through linkage to national registries. The link between exposure and overall CVD, as well as offspring’s ischemic heart diseases, cerebrovascular diseases, heart failure and atrial fibrillation will be studied both in the overall cohort and by using relevant family designs.

Significance: The rate of maternal chronic diseases during pregnancy has increased during recent decades in Western countries, a trend that may stem from postponed motherhood, a general increase in non-communicable diseases, and better medical care making women with severe illnesses that earlier refrained from, now plan pregnancy. Our findings may provide new opportunities for screening and prevention very early in life to reduce the burden of early CVD.