• About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Login
    • ObGFirst
  • COVID-19
  • Alerts
  • OB
  • 2T US Atlas
  • The Genome
  • GYN
    • GYN
    • Sexual Health
  • Primary Care
  • Your Practice
  • GrandRounds
  • My Bookshelf
  • Now@ObG
  • Media
About Us Contact Us Login ObGFirst
  • COVID-19
  • Alerts
  • OB
  • 2T US Atlas
  • The Genome
  • GYN
    • GYN
    • Sexual Health
  • Primary Care
  • Your Practice
  • GrandRounds
  • My Bookshelf
  • Now@ObG
  • Media
Grand Rounds

Genetic Risk Score Study: Is There a Causal Link Between Maternal BP during Pregnancy and Cardiometabolic Risk Among Offspring?

image_pdfFavoriteLoadingFavorite

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:

  • Observational studies suggest a link between higher maternal blood pressure (BP) during pregnancy and increased risk for cardiometabolic disease in offspring
    • Whether there is a causal mechanism underlying this association is unknown
  • Wang et al. (Hypertension, 2021) performed a genetic association study of genotyped mother-offspring pairs to look for relationships between maternal genetic risk scores and cardiometabolic impact on offspring

METHODS:

  • Genetic association study using Mendelian randomization (MR) framework
    • MR can be used to estimate causal relationships between an environmental exposure of interest and disease
    • If there was an association between maternal GRSs and offspring outcomes, it would suggest a causal effect of maternal BP on the offspring outcomes
  • Population
    • Genotyped mother-offspring pairs from the UK Biobank (UKB) and Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT) study
    • All dyads were of European ancestry
    • All offspring from the UKB and the majority of offspring from the HUNT study are ≥middle-age and would be manifest primary outcomes if present
  • Exposure
    • Maternal genetic risk score (GRSs) – SNPs associated with maternal BP
      • SNPs were identified from external genome wide association studies and validated on the study population
      • Strong evidence that the unweighted maternal genetic scores of BP variants were positively associated with higher maternal blood pressure during pregnancy
  • Study design
    • The authors tested the association between maternal genetic scores from BP-associated SNPs and offspring outcomes
    • If there was an association between maternal GRSs and offspring outcomes, it would suggest a causal effect of maternal BP on the offspring outcomes
    • Power calculations: ≥80% power to detect a maternal genetic effect that explained as little as 0.035% of the variance in the offspring cardiometabolic trait 
  • Primary outcomes
    • Offspring cardiometabolic risk factors for cardiometabolic disease
      • Systolic and diastolic BP
      • BMI
      • Lipid profile
      • Glycemic biomarkers

RESULTS:

  • Mother-offspring pairs: 29,708 | Father-offspring pairs: 21,423
  • There was no association between maternal unweighted genetic scores and cardiometabolic offspring outcomes
  • Outcome example: Association between maternal systolic BP genetic score and offspring BMI
    • UK Biobank: P=0.0580
    • HUNT: P=0.646
    • Meta-analysis: P=0.2552
  • There was also no association with paternal genetic scores

CONCLUSION:

  • There were no associations between maternal genetic risk scores for BP and offspring cardiometabolic outcomes
  • Maternal BP during pregnancy is probably not a major risk factor for offspring cardiometabolic disease
  • Authors acknowledge multiple limitations and that further genetic studies are required for extreme BP exposures such as preeclampsia
  • The authors state:

Our study suggests that high maternal blood pressure, as proxied by maternal SNPs that influence blood pressure is unlikely to be a key determinant of adverse cardiometabolic outcomes in offspring

Learn More – Primary Sources:

Investigating a Potential Causal Relationship Between Maternal Blood Pressure During Pregnancy and Future Offspring Cardiometabolic Health

Want to stay on top of key guidelines and research papers?

ObGFirst® – Try It Free! »

image_pdfFavoriteLoadingFavorite
< Previous
All Grand Rounds Posts
Next >

Related ObG Topics:

Meta-Analysis: Does Baseline BP Impact Cardiovascular Risk When Lowering Systolic BP?
Does Exposure to Aspirin During Pregnancy Impact Blood Pressure in Offspring – a 7 Year Follow Up Study
Can Maternal Inflammation Alone Impact Fetal Brain Development and Function?

Sections

  • COVID-19
  • Alerts
  • OB
  • GYN
    • GYN
    • Sexual Health
  • 2T US Atlas
  • The Genome
  • Primary Care
  • Your Practice
  • Grand Rounds
  • My Bookshelf
  • Now@ObG
  • Media

Are you an
ObG Insider?

Get specially curated clinical summaries delivered to your inbox every week for free

  • Site Map/
  • © ObG Project/
  • Terms and Conditions/
  • Privacy/
  • Contact Us/
© ObG Project
SSL Certificate


  • Already an ObGFirst Member?
    Welcome back

    Log In

    Want to sign up?
    Get guideline notifications
    CME Included

    Sign Up

Get Guideline Alerts Direct to Your Phone
Try ObGFirst Free!

Sign In

Lost your password?

Sign Up for ObGFirst and Stay Ahead

  • - Professional guideline notifications
  • - Daily summary of a clinically relevant
    research paper
  • - Includes 1 hour of CME every month

ObGFirst Free Trial

Already a Member of ObGFirst®?

Please log in to ObGFirst to access the 2T US Atlas

Password Trouble?

Not an ObGFirst® Member Yet?

  • - Access 2T US Atlas
  • - Guideline notifications
  • - Daily research paper summaries
  • - And lots more!
ObGFirst Free Trial

Media - Internet

Computer System Requirements

OBG Project CME requires a modern web browser (Internet Explorer 10+, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge). Certain educational activities may require additional software to view multimedia, presentation, or printable versions of their content. These activities will be marked as such and will provide links to the required software. That software may be: Adobe Flash, Apple QuickTime, Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft PowerPoint, Windows Media Player, or Real Networks Real One Player.

Disclosure of Unlabeled Use

This educational activity may contain discussion of published and/or investigational uses of agents that are not indicated by the FDA. The planners of this activity do not recommend the use of any agent outside of the labeled indications.

The opinions expressed in the educational activity are those of the faculty and do not necessarily represent the views of the planners. Please refer to the official prescribing information for each product for discussion of approved indications, contraindications, and warnings.

Disclaimer

Participants have an implied responsibility to use the newly acquired information to enhance patient outcomes and their own professional development. The information
presented in this activity is not meant to serve as a guideline for patient management. Any procedures, medications, or other courses of diagnosis or treatment discussed or suggested in this activity should not be used by clinicians without evaluation of their patient’s conditions and possible contraindications and/or dangers in use, review of any applicable manufacturer’s product information, and comparison with recommendations of other authorities.

Jointly provided by

NOT ENOUGH CME HOURS

It appears you don't have enough CME Hours to take this Post-Test. Feel free to buy additional CME hours or upgrade your current CME subscription plan

Subscribe

JOIN OBGFIRST AND GET CME/CE CREDITS

One of the benefits of an ObGFirst subscription is the ability to earn CME/CE credits from the ObG entries you read. Tap the button to learn more about ObGFirst

Learn More
Leaving ObG Website

You are now leaving the ObG website and on your way to PRIORITY at UCSF, an independent website. Therefore, we are not responsible for the content or availability of this site