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Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy in women with gestational diabetes mellitus on overweight status of their children

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 31, pages 731–736 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) as a group of medical complications in pregnancy are believed to be associated with an increased risk of poor fetal growth, but the influence on offspring’s body composition is not clear. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the association between maternal HDP and overweight status in the offspring of mothers with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). A cross-sectional study among 1263 GDM mother–child pairs was performed in Tianjin, China. General linear models and logistic regression models were used to assess the associations of maternal hypertension in pregnancy with anthropometry and overweight status in the offspring from birth to 1–5 years old. Offspring of GDM mothers who were diagnosed with hypertensive disorders during pregnancy had higher mean values of Z-scores for birth weight for gestational age and birth weight for length, and higher mean values of Z-scores for weight for age, weight for length/height, and body mass index for age at 1–5 years old than those of GDM mothers with normal blood pressure during pregnancy. Maternal HDP were associated with increased risks of large for gestational age (OR 1.74, 95% CI 1.08–2.79) and macrosomia (OR 2.02, 95% CI 1.23–3.31) at birth and childhood overweight/obesity at 1–5 years old age (OR 1.88, 95% CI 1.16–3.04). For offspring of mothers with GDM, maternal hypertension during pregnancy was a risk factor for macrosomia at birth and childhood overweight and obesity, and controlling the maternal hypertension may be more important for preventing large-for-gestational-age babies and childhood obesity.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank the TGDMPP families who are participating in the study and their families, and the TGDMPP Research Group. This study was supported by the Tianjin Women’s and Children’s Health Center, Tianjin Public Health Bureau, European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes (EFSD)/Chinese Diabetes Society (CDS)/Lilly programme for Collaborative Research between China and Europe and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R01DK100790.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tianjin Women’s and Children’s Health Center, Tianjin, China

    S Zhang, L Wang, J Leng, H Liu, W Li, T Zhang, N Li, W Li & H Tian

  2. Chronic Disease Epidemiology Laboratory, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, LA, USA

    T Zhang & G Hu

  3. Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY, USA

    A A Baccarelli

  4. Department of Preventive Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA

    L Hou

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Correspondence to G Hu.

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Zhang, S., Wang, L., Leng, J. et al. Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy in women with gestational diabetes mellitus on overweight status of their children. J Hum Hypertens 31, 731–736 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/jhh.2017.17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/jhh.2017.17

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