Health of children born to mothers who had preeclampsia: a population-based cohort study.
OBJECTIVE
We assessed whether preeclampsia correlates with the long-term postnatal health of the offspring.


METHODS
We conducted a population-based cohort study of 1,618,481 singletons born in Denmark (1978-2004) with up to 27 years of follow-up. We used Cox regression to estimate the associations between preeclampsia and long-term health outcomes of the offspring.


RESULTS
Children born at term exposed to preeclampsia had an increased risk of a variety of diseases, such as endocrine, nutritional, and metabolic diseases (incidence rate ratio, 1.6; 95% confidence interval, 1.5-1.7), and diseases of the blood and blood-forming organs (incidence rate ratio, 1.5; 95% confidence interval, 1.3-1.8). Children born preterm exposed to preeclampsia had a similar pattern of hospitalizations compared with the children born preterm unexposed to preeclampsia, although they had a decreased risk of cerebral palsy (incidence rate ratio, 0.7; 95% confidence interval, 0.6-0.9).


CONCLUSIONS
Preeclampsia was associated with an increased risk of being hospitalized for a number of diseases, especially in the children born at term.
Wu
Chun S
CS
Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmark. cw@soci.au.dk
Nohr
Ellen A
EA
Bech
Bodil H
BH
Vestergaard
Mogens
M
Catov
Janet M
JM
Olsen
Jørn
J
D003718:Denmark / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005865:Gestational Age; D006304:Health Status; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D011225:Pre-Eclampsia / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects / Q000453:epidemiology*; D018570:Risk Assessment