Are maternal BMI and maternal age associated with changes in left ventricular dimensions and function in newborns?
Advanced maternal age (≥ 40 years) is associated with smaller systolic and diastolic left ventricular diameters in newborns.
BACKGROUND: Maternal obesity and advanced age have been associated with an increased risk of structural congenital heart defects in the offspring. Whether these factors may also cause abnormalities in infant cardiac dimension and function is unknown. This study investigates whether maternal body mass index (BMI) and maternal age are associated with changes in left ventricular (LV) dimensions and function in the newborn. METHODS: ) < 18.5; 18.5-24.9 (reference); 25-29.9; 30-34.9 and ≥ 35 and maternal age (years) < 25; 25-29; 30-34 (reference); 35-39 and ≥ 40. Outcomes were LV parameters ascertained by 2D-echocardiography. Associations between each maternal factor and infant LV parameters were analysed with either a linear model adjusted for the child's weight and length at birth, gestational age, sex, age at TTE, and maternal smoking, or a linear mixed model, further adjusted for random effects of analyst and month of analysis. Analyses investigating impact of maternal BMI were adjusted for maternal age, and vice versa. RESULTS: -0.11 ± 0.05 mm, p = 0.03. Compared with infants in the age reference group, infants born to women ≥ 40 years had significantly smaller LV internal diameters in end-diastole -0.15 ± 0.04 mm, p = 0.001 and end-systole -0.09 ± 0.04 mm, p = 0.009. CONCLUSIONS: and maternal age ≥ 40 years were associated with smaller systolic and diastolic LV diameters. The long-term effects are unknown. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: April 2016, Copenhagen Baby Heart, NCT02753348 .
Nørregaard et al. (2023) studied this question.