Maternal lifestyle factors in pregnancy and congenital heart defects in offspring: review of the current evidence.
The prognosis of children with congenital heart defects(CHDs) continues to improve with advancing surgical techniques; however, lack of information about modifiable risk factors for malformations in cardiovascular development impeded the prevention of CHDs. We investigated an association between maternal lifestyle factors and the risk of CHDs, because epidemiological studies have reported conflicting results regarding maternal lifestyle factors and the risk of CHDs recently. A review published on 2007 provided a summary of maternal exposures associated with an increased risk of CHDs. As part of noninherited risk factors, we conducted a brief overview of studies on the evidence linking common maternal lifestyle factors, specifically smoking, alcohol, illicit drugs, caffeine, body mass index and psychological factors to the development of CHDs in offspring. Women who smoke and have an excessive body mass index(BMI) during pregnancy are suspected to be associated with CHDs in offspring. Our findings could cause public health policy makers to pay more attention to women at risk and could be used in the development of population-based prevention strategies to reduce the incidence and burden of CHDs. However, more prospective studies are needed to investigate the association between maternal lifestyle factors and CHDs.
Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, The Affiliated Children's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, P.R. China. yd@njmu.edu.cn.
Yu
Y
Feng
Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, The Affiliated Children's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, P.R. China. 391122912@qq.com.
Di
D
Yu
Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, The Affiliated Children's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, P.R. China. 13951035385@163.com.
Lei
L
Yang
Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, The Affiliated Children's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, P.R. China. 15950526040@126.com.
Min
M
Da
Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, The Affiliated Children's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, P.R. China. chay2000@163.com.
Zhiqi
Z
Wang
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Jiangsu Key Lab of Cancer Biomarkers, Prevention and Treatment, Cancer Center, School of Public Health, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, P.R. China. grace.lin726@gmail.com.
Yuan
Y
Lin
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Jiangsu Key Lab of Cancer Biomarkers, Prevention and Treatment, Cancer Center, School of Public Health, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, P.R. China. dorisnbx@gami.com.
Bixian
B
Ni
Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, The Affiliated Children's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, P.R. China. rushidea@ymail.com.
Song
S
Wang
Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, The Affiliated Children's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, P.R. China. mohsuming15@sina.com.
Xuming
X
Mo
D005260:Female; D014943:Global Health; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008019:Life Style; D018811:Maternal Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects / Q000453:epidemiology*