January 6, 2026International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics0 citations

Maternal hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and childhood neurodevelopmental disorders: A two‐sample Mendelian randomization

BZBaoquan ZhangFujian Medical University HSHe ShiFujian Medical University WCWenhong CaiFujian Medical University

Key Points

To examine the association between maternal hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and childhood neurodevelopmental disorders using Mendelian randomization.
Conducted a two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis.
Evaluated causal effects of maternal hypertensive disorders including gestational hypertension and pre-eclampsia.
Utilized data from the FinnGen database in a retrospective study.
No significant causal relationship found between maternal hypertensive disorders and childhood neurodevelopmental disorders.
Gestational hypertension did not significantly increase the odds of conditions like cerebral palsy or autism spectrum disorder.
Pleiotropy was not detected, suggesting unbiased results.

Abstract

Abstract Objective To investigate the association between maternal hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) and childhood neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD) by Mendelian randomization (MR). Methods A two‐sample MR analysis was conducted to evaluate the causal effects of HDP, including gestational hypertension (GH), pre‐eclampsia superimposed on chronic hypertension, and pre‐eclampsia or eclampsia on childhood NDD, such as cerebral palsy (CP), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and hyperkinetic disorders (HD). The exposure and outcome data were extracted from the FinnGen database. As the genetic and phenotypic data used were from previously collected resources, the analysis of FinnGen data in this study was a retrospective study. Results The two‐sample MR analysis did not identify a significant causal relationship between maternal HDP and childhood NDD: GH with CP (odds ratio OR 1.05, 95% confidence interval CI 0.81–1.35), ASD (OR 1.04, 95% CI 0.83–1.29), and HD (OR 1.02, 95% CI 0.91–1.15); pre‐eclampsia superimposed on chronic hypertension with CP (OR 1.03, 95% CI 0.88–1.21), ASD (OR 1.02, 95% CI 0.85–1.23), and HD (OR 1, 95% CI 0.94–1.05); pre‐eclampsia or eclampsia with CP (OR 1.07, 95% CI 0.82–1.40), ASD (OR 0.90, 95% CI 0.69–1.18), and HD (OR 0.90, 95% CI 0.80–1.01). The MR‐Egger intercept did not detect potential pleiotropy ( P > 0.05), thereby the results were considered unbiased. Conclusions Maternal HDP did not increase the risk of childhood NDD.

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