To investigate the potential associations between visit-to-visit blood pressure variability (VVV) and adverse birth outcomes in pregnancies, 48,209 pregnant women without proteinuria or chronic ...hypertension before 20 weeks of gestation who delivered live singletons between January 2014 and November 2019 in Taizhou or Taicang cities were recruited. VVV was estimated as the standard deviation and coefficient of variation of blood pressure i.e., systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and mean arterial pressure (MAP) measured from 20 weeks of gestation onwards. Pregnant women were classified into four groups according to the corresponding quartiles for each VVV index. It was found that VVV was significantly higher in women with small for gestational age (SGA) or low birth weight (LBW) infants than in their counterparts. Graded associations between VVV categories and poor birth outcomes were observed. In particular, when comparing the women with the highest to the lowest quartiles of standard deviation and coefficient variation of DBP, the odds ratios (95% confidence interval) for SGA was 1.15 (1.06-1.26) and 1.14 (1.05-1.25), respectively. Interestingly, the addition of DBP-VVV to established risk factors improved risk prediction of SGA; DBP-VVV demonstrated modestly superior predictive performance to VVV obtained from SBP or MAP. Similar results were found even among normotensive pregnancies. Our findings indicated that VVV during pregnancy, especially DBP-VVV, was independently associated with poor birth outcomes of pregnancies in East China. The inclusion of DBP-VVV with established risk factors may help in identifying pregnancies at high risk of SGA. Validations are needed.
The 2017 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association guideline recommends a lowered threshold for hypertension diagnosis. Nonetheless, the association of blood pressure (BP) groups ...defined by the new guideline and all-cause mortality has not been fully estimated, especially in general Chinese. Based on the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) during 2011-2018, 12,964 participants aged 45 years or older at baseline were enrolled for a follow-up of 7 years. Cox proportional hazards models were used to examine the relationship of BP classifications with all-cause mortality, with normal BP (<120/80 mmHg) as a reference. Afterwards, eligible studies shed light in this field were searched in public databases, and meta-analysis was conducted. In CHARLS, there were 41.21% and 16.08% individuals with stage 2 hypertension and stage 1 hypertension, respectively. During the follow-up, 1293 death occurred. The redefined stage 1 (130-139/80-89 mmHg) and stage 2 hypertension (≥140/≥90 mmHg) were found to have increased risk of death in the crude model, but only stage 2 hypertension maintained statistically significance after adjustment. Furthermore, meta-analysis including CHARLS and nine other prospective studies, with a total of 290,609 participants followed up for 3,081,532 person-years, resulted in similar results (combined hazard ratio (95% confidence interval) was 1.07 (0.99-1.15) for stage 1 hypertension, and 1.39 (1.25-1.53) for stage 2 hypertension). The present study detected that individuals with stage 2 and stage 1 hypertension had increased likelihood to die from any cause, but only the former association achieved statistically significance. Further cohorts with long-term follow-up duration are warranted, especially in China.
Background and Objectives: The role of maternal vitamin D in infantile growth remains unclear. Methods and Study Design: Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D 25(OH)D concentrations were examined for pregnancies ...who visited the Affiliated Wuxi Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from January 2016 to December 2017. Anthropometric measurements of corresponding offspring were performed from birth to 2 to 3 years old. Infantile body mass index (BMI) was transformed into age-, sex- and height- normalized zscores, and Latent Class Growth Mixture (LCGM) model was used to identify trajectories of BMI-Z. Results: Among the 329 included pregnancy women, 109 (33.13 %), 190 (57.75%) and 30 (9.12%) were defined as vitamin D deficiency 25(OH)D <30 nmol/L, insufficiency 30 nmol/L<=25(OH)D<50 nmol/L and sufficiency 25(OH)D >=50 nmol/L, respectively. When compared with vitamin D sufficiency, maternal vitamin D deficiency was not associated with preterm birth odds ratio (OR)=2.69, 95% confidence interval (95% CI)=0.57-12.80, small for gestation age (OR=0.99, 95% CI=0.29-3.46), and low birth weight (OR=1.69, 95% CI=0.34-8.51). Similarly, no significant relationships were found between maternal vitamin D concentrations and anthropometric indices (such as weight, length, BMI) during 0 to 3 years old. Furthermore, LCGM model identified two patterns of offspring growth: stable moderate BMI-Z and early transient BMI-Z groups. Maternal vitamin D levels were higher in the former group than the latter (p=0.037); however, maternal vitamin D status appeared to be unrelated with offspring BMI-Z trajectories in multivariable logistic regression models. Conclusions: Maternal vitamin D deficiency may not be related to adverse pregnancy outcomes as well as offspring growth.
Previous studies on the pneumonia outbreak caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) have focused on the general population and pregnant women, while little is known ...about the effects of SARS-CoV-2 on retardation during and after pregnancy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the potential influence of SARS-CoV-2 on infant neurobehavioral development.
A case-control study was conducted in Wuhan Maternal and Child Health Hospital, China. Nine pregnant women with SARS-CoV-2 infection and 9 controls matched by maternal age, parity, and status of chronic disease were included. Infantile neurobehavioral development was assessed through the Ages and Stages Questionnaires Edition 3 (ASQ-3).
The majority of pregnant women with SARS-CoV-2 experienced cesarean section (7 of 9), which was higher than the control group (5 of 9). The throat swabs of all newborn were negative. We found that compared with the control group, neonates of mothers with SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy had lower scores in communication, gross movement, fine movement, problem solving, and personal-social domains; but only fine movement domain yielded statistical significance (
= 0.031).
Infection with SARS-CoV-2 during pregnancy may have a certain impact on infant neurobehavioral development. Further studies with larger sample size are warranted for validation.
Associations between trajectories of systolic blood pressure (SBP) during pregnancy and pregnant outcomes remain unclear and disparate.
Data of 20,353 mothers without chronic hypertension and who ...delivered live singletons between January, 2014 and November, 2019, was extracted from Taicang register-based cohort. Based on SBP measured during 10 to 40 weeks of gestation, SBP trajectories were explored using latent class growth mixture model, and their associations with maternal and neonatal outcomes were assessed by logistic regression analyses.
Six heterogeneous SBP trajectories were identified: low delayed-increasing (7.47%), low reverse-increasing (21.88%), low-stable (19.13%), medium-stable (21.64%), medium reverse-increasing (16.47%), and high stable (13.41%) trajectories. The high-stable trajectory had SBP around 125 mmHg in the 10th gestational week, and increased slightly onwards. When compared with the low-stable trajectory, the high-stable trajectory had maximally adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval) of 5.28 (2.76-10.10), 1.30 (1.13-1.50), 1.53 (1.12-2.08), 1.32 (1.06-1.65) and 1.64 (1.08-2.48) for gestational hypertension (GH), early-term delivery (ETD), preterm delivery (PTD), small for gestational age and low birth weight (LBW), respectively. Besides, the medium reverse-increasing trajectory showed significantly increased risk of GH and ETD, while the medium-stable trajectory had significantly elevated risk of ETD and PTD. Notably, SBP trajectories slightly but significantly improved risk discrimination of GH, ETD and LBW, over traditional risk factors.
Women with different SBP trajectories were at varied risk of adverse maternal and fetal outcomes. Meanwhile, our study suggested that BP monitoring during pregnancy is necessary, especially for women with high SBP in early pregnancy or upward trajectory.
Background and Objectives: The role of maternal vitamin D in infantile growth remains unclear. Methods and Study Design: Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D 25(OH)D concentrations were examined for pregnancies ...who visited the Affiliated Wuxi Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from January 2016 to December 2017. Anthropometric measurements of corresponding offspring were performed from birth to 2 to 3 years old. Infantile body mass index (BMI) was transformed into age-, sex- and height- normalized zscores, and Latent Class Growth Mixture (LCGM) model was used to identify trajectories of BMI-Z. Results: Among the 329 included pregnancy women, 109 (33.13 %), 190 (57.75%) and 30 (9.12%) were defined as vitamin D deficiency 25(OH)D <30 nmol/L, insufficiency 30 nmol/L<=25(OH)D<50 nmol/L and sufficiency 25(OH)D >=50 nmol/L, respectively. When compared with vitamin D sufficiency, maternal vitamin D deficiency was not associated with preterm birth odds ratio (OR)=2.69, 95% confidence interval (95% CI)=0.57-12.80, small for gestation age (OR=0.99, 95% CI=0.29-3.46), and low birth weight (OR=1.69, 95% CI=0.34-8.51). Similarly, no significant relationships were found between maternal vitamin D concentrations and anthropometric indices (such as weight, length, BMI) during 0 to 3 years old. Furthermore, LCGM model identified two patterns of offspring growth: stable moderate BMI-Z and early transient BMI-Z groups. Maternal vitamin D levels were higher in the former group than the latter (p=0.037); however, maternal vitamin D status appeared to be unrelated with offspring BMI-Z trajectories in multivariable logistic regression models. Conclusions: Maternal vitamin D deficiency may not be related to adverse pregnancy outcomes as well as offspring growth.
Background. Overweight/obesity in childhood is suggested to increase the risk of hypertension later in life. We aimed to assess whether and how body mass index (BMI) trajectories during 6–18 years of ...age are associated with hypertension in young adulthood (18–37 years) in the Chinese population. Methods. Based on the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS), a total of 1,872 participants who received ≥2 measurements of BMI during 6–18 years and had assessment of blood pressure (BP) in young adulthood were included. BMI trajectories were explored using latent class growth mixture models, and associations between identified trajectories with hypertension in young adulthood were examined by logistic regression analyses. Results. Five heterogeneous BMI trajectories were identified: the low slow-increasing (20.03%), low moderate-increasing (56.14%), low rapid-increasing (17.04%), moderate-increasing (3.63%), and elevated-decreasing (3.15%) groups. Compared with the low slow-increasing group, another three increasing groups had gradually elevated risk of hypertension, yielding maximally adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval) (OR (95% CI)) of 2.48 (1.39–4.42), 3.24 (1.66–6.31), and 3.28 (1.19–9.08), respectively, whereas the elevated-decreasing group reversed overweight/obesity to normal weight in childhood, rendering its association with hypertension as not statistically significant (OR (95% CI) = 2.74 (0.98–7.65)). Conclusion. Our study indicates that there are varied BMI trajectories from childhood to adulthood and that an elevated BMI trajectory during childhood is related with an increased risk of hypertension in young adulthood. In contrast, weight loss of children with high initial BMI may mitigate or reverse the risk. Our findings emphasize the importance of BMI continuous monitoring during early life.
The predictive importance of visit-to-visit blood pressure variability (VVV) for high blood pressure (HBP) in a pediatric population has been largely unsettled. We aimed to evaluate it based on ...Health Promotion Program for Children and Adolescents (HPPCA), a school-based surveillance conducted from 2012 to 2018 in Suzhou, China.
A total of 330,618 participants had BP measurement in 2018 and ≥ 3 BP records during 2012-2017, were recruited from HPPCA. Absolute BP values (in mmHg) were converted into age-, sex- and height- normalized z-scores. VVV was expressed as standard deviation (SD), coefficient of variation (CV) or average real variability (ARV) of BP z-scores during 2012-2017. Logistic regression models were used to assess the associations between VVV and HBP in 2018.
In 2018, 42,554 (12.87%) subjects were defined as HBP. VVV, except for SBP-CV and DBP-CV, was significantly higher in the HBP group than normotensives group. After adjusting for covariates including mean BP values from 2012 to 2017, SBP-SD, SBP-ARV, DBP-SD and DBP-ARV, increased the risk of HBP by 5.70 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 5.54-5.87, 4.10 (95% CI 4.01-4.20), 4.70 (95% CI 4.50-4.90) and 3.39 (95% CI 3.28-3.50) times, respectively. Notably, SBP-SD significantly improved risk discrimination of HBP based on other risk variables (c-statistics, net reclassification index and integrated discrimination improvement significantly increased).
Higher SD or ARV of BP, was independently related with higher probability of HBP in Chinese pediatric population. SBP-SD could be potentially helpful for detecting HBP. Future researches investigating the predictive value of VVV are warrant.
•Visit-to-visit blood pressure variability in the second/third trimester or during the whole pregnancy were independently associated with gestational hypertension (GH) and pre-eclampsia ...(PE).•Visit-to-visit blood pressure variability increased from the second to the third trimester, and the increasement in hypertensive participants was enlarged.•Adding coefficient variance of systolic blood pressure to conventional risk model could facilitate identification for pregnant woman at high risk of GH or PE.
Visit-to-visit blood pressure variability (VVV) was an independent risk factor for cardiovascular events. In pregnant women whose hemodynamic changes are unique, the role of VVV in hypertensive disorders is still obscure. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the association of VVV with gestational hypertension (GH) and pre-eclampsia (PE).
14,702 pregnant women were recruited at around 13 weeks of their gestation. VVV during the second, third trimester and the whole pregnancy, were estimated as standard deviation (SD) or coefficient of variation (CV) of systolic blood pressure (SBP) or diastolic blood pressure (DBP). The associations between VVV, GH and PE were assessed by multivariate logistic regression models.
878 and 131 women developed GH and PE, respectively. VVV was significantly higher in GH and PE subjects than normotensive controls, regardless of whichever metric was calculated. In maximally adjusted models, odds ratio (95% confidence interval) of SBP-CV during the whole pregnancy was 1.62 (1.56–1.68) for GH, 1.14 (1.06–1.21) for PE, and 1.51 (1.47–1.56) for either GH or PE. The cooperation of SBP-CV to other risk factors could help in discriminating pregnant women at high risk of GH and PE.
VVV during pregnancy, especially SBP-CV, was independently associated with GH and PE. These results suggested that VVV could provide additional information to identify pregnant women at high risk of GH or PE. Further studies exploring prospective association between VVV, GH and PE are warranted.