Does maternal overweight and obesity increase the risk of complex and specific congenital heart defects in offspring?
Maternal obesity severity is associated with a significantly increased risk of specific congenital heart defects, including aortic arch defects, transposition of the great arteries, ASD, and persistent ductus arteriosus in offspring.
BACKGROUND: Congenital heart defects are more frequent in offspring of mothers with overweight or obesity. However, associations between maternal overweight and obesity, and risks of complex and specific heart defects are not clear. OBJECTIVES: This study sought to analyze associations between maternal overweight and obesity severity and rates of complex and specific heart defects. METHODS: This was a population-based cohort study in Sweden, including 2,050,491 live singleton infants born between 1992 and 2012. Data on maternal and infant characteristics, and diagnoses of congenital heart defects were retrieved from nationwide registries. Maternal body mass index (BMI) was categorized as underweight (BMI <18.5 kg/m RESULTS: A total of 28,628 (1.40%, N = 2,050,491) children had at least 1 congenital heart defect. PRRs of aortic arch defects increased with maternal obesity severity. Compared with offspring of normal weight mothers, PRRs of aortic arch defects and transposition of the great arteries were doubled in offspring of mothers with severe obesity. PRRs of ASD and persistent ductus arteriosus in term infants increased with maternal BMI. CONCLUSIONS: PRRs of aortic branch defects, ASD, and persistent ductus arteriosus increase with maternal obesity severity.
Persson et al. (Tue,) studied this question.