Offspring birthweight by gestational age and parental cardiovascular mortality: a population‐based cohort study
Open accessAbstract
Objective: To estimate risk of parental cardiovascular disease mortality by offspring birthweight. Design: Population‐based cohort study. Setting and population: Norwegian mothers and fathers with singleton births during 1967–2002 were followed until 2009 by linkage to the Norwegian cause of death registry. Methods: Hazard ratios by offspring absolute birthweight in grams and birthweight adjusted for gestational age (z‐score) were calculated using Cox regression and adjusted for parental age at delivery and year of first birth. Stratified analyses on preterm and term births were performed. Main outcome measures: Maternal and paternal cardiovascular mortality. Results: We followed 711 726 mothers and 700 212 fathers and found a strong link between maternal cardiovascular mortality and offspring birthweight but only slight evidence of associations in fathers. Adjusting birthweight for gestational age (by z‐score) uncovered an unexpected strong association of large birthweight (z‐score > 2.5) with mothers’ cardiovascular mortality (hazard ratio 3.0, 95% CI 2.0–4.6). This risk was apparently restricted to preterm births. In stratified analyses (preterm and term births) hazard ratios for maternal cardiovascular mortality were 1.5 (1.03–2.2) for large preterm babies and 0.9 (0.7–1.2) for large term babies (P‐value for interaction = 0.02), using normal weight preterm and term, respectively, as references. Conclusion: Women having large preterm babies are at increased risk of both diabetes and cardiovascular mortality. The birth of a large preterm baby should increase clinical vigilance for onset of diabetes and other cardiovascular disease risk factors. Tweetable abstract: Birth of a large preterm baby should increase vigilance for cardiovascular‐disease risk factors.
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Hypertensive disorders in pregnancy and hyperglycaemia during pregnancy negatively affect fetuses and neonates, including intrauterine growth restriction, macrosomia, preterm birth, low birthweight and adverse outcomes later in life.
“Negative influences of HDP and hyperglycaemia during pregnancy on fetuses and neonates include, but are not limited to, intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) and macrosomia, preterm birth, low birthweight and adverse outcomes later in life11.”
From A global view of hypertensive disorders and diabetes mellitus during pregnancy (2022) · cites this paper as [11]
The Methods and Discussion (page unavailable) examine offspring birth size and gestational age in relation to parental cardiovascular mortality and maternal diabetes in a subsequent pregnancy. Searches for hypertensive disorders, pregnancy hyperglycaemia, fetal growth restriction, macrosomia, and later offspring outcomes found no passage addressing the claimed effects of those conditions on fetuses or neonates. (LLM, conf=0.75)
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- Authors
- Morken, N., Halland, F., DeRoo, L., Wilcox, A., & Skjærven, R.
- Affiliations
- Haukeland University Hospital (NO)
- National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (US)
- Epidemiology Branch NIEHS/NIH Durham NC USA
- Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NO)
- Corresponding author
- Morken, N‐H
- ORCID
- Skjærven, R
- Venue
- BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2017-02-06
- Volume
- 125
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 336-341
- ISSN
- 0306-5456 (ISSN-L)
- 1470-0328
- 1471-0528
- PMC
- PMC5821431
- OpenAlex
- W2586430971
- Cited by
- 29
- References
- 23
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 2
- FWCI
- 2.99
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- BJOG An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Universitetet i Bergen
- Norges Forskningsråd
- National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
- National Institutes of Health
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Birth, Development, and Health
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Obstetrics and Gynecology › Gestational Diabetes Research and Management
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Obstetrics and Gynecology › Pregnancy and preeclampsia studies
- Keywords
- gestational age, preterm birth, birth weight z-score, diabetes risk, cardiovascular risk factors
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Birth Weight, Cardiovascular Diseases, Diabetes Mellitus, Female, Gestational Age, Humans, Infant, Newborn, Male, Norway, Parents, Pregnancy, Risk Factors, Risk Assessment, Parental Death
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