NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Birth from a pregnancy affected by preeclampsia or gestational hypertension appears to be a risk factor for stroke in adulthood, new research indicates.

The findings show that people whose mothers had preeclampsia have nearly double the risk of stroke. A similar, albeit smaller, effect was seen with pregnancies complicated by gestational hypertension.

“This is the first study we are aware of that has been able to follow the offspring from pregnancies complicated by preeclampsia into their later lives,” study co-author Dr. Kent Thornburg, from the Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, said in a statement.

Prior research has shown that offspring of preeclamptic pregnancies have elevated blood pressures during childhood, but the long-term consequences, if any, were unclear, according to the report in the April issue of Stroke.

The results are based on an analysis of data for 6410 subjects included in the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study who were born between 1934 and 1944. Overall, 120 pregnancies were affected by non-severe preeclampsia, 164 by severe preeclampsia, and 1592 by gestational hypertension.

The hazard ratio for stroke among individuals whose mothers had preeclampsia was 1.9 (p = 0.01), and 1.4 for those whose mothers had gestational hypertension (p = 0.03).

By contrast, neither pregnancy complication was associated with coronary heart disease in adulthood.

Preeclampsia and gestational hypertension were found to have differing associations with head circumference. Preeclampsia, especially severe disease, was linked to a reduced circumference, while gestational hypertension was tied to an increased circumference, relative to body length.

The authors believe that the mechanisms responsible for the link between these pregnancy complications and stroke “may include local disorders of the blood vessels of the brain as a consequence of either reduced brain growth or impaired brain growth leading to ‘brain-sparing’ responses.”

Reference:
Stroke 2009;40.