title: PP083. Maternal pre-eclampsia and bone mineral density of the adult offspring.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Preterm birth at very low birth weight (VLBW; <1500g) is associated with cardiometabolic risk factors and reduced bone mineral density (BMD) in the adult offspring. Pre-eclampsia (PE) is a frequent cause of preterm birth and is also associated with cardiometabolic risk factors in the offspring. Whether it is associated with BMD is not known.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To study BMD in adult offspring of mothers with pre-eclampsia.
  
  
  METHODS
  We studied participants of the Helsinki Study of Very Low Birth Weight Adults: 144 born at VLBW and 139 born at term. From the VLBW and term offspring a respective 32 and 11 were born from pregnancy complicated by preeclampsia. We measured BMD at age 18-27 years by dual X-ray absorptiometry. We express BMD in Z scores which indicate the difference in SD units from the value expected for sex and age.
  
  
  RESULTS
  VLBW adults exposed to maternal pre-eclampsia had higher lumbar spine Z score (mean -0.44 SD units, compared to -1.07 in unexposed VLBW adults, p=0.002) and femoral neck Z score (-0.05 vs. -0.53, p=0.003). Corresponding Z scores for those born at term were -0.02 (PE) and -0.45 (no PE) for lumbar spine (p=0.2), 0.78 and 0.08 for femoral neck (p=0.02). The Table shows mean differences after adjustment for offspring current body size and potential confounders.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Young adults exposed to maternal PE have higher BMD than those not exposed. This suggests that preeclampsia has a long-term protective effect on offspring bone health.
authors.forename: Satu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Miettola
authors.forename: Petteri
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hovi
authors.forename: Sture
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Andersson
authors.forename: Sonja
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Strang-Karlsson
authors.forename: Anneli
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pouta
authors.forename: Hannele
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Laivuori
authors.forename: Anna-Liisa
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Jarvenpaa
authors.forename: Johan G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Eriksson
authors.forename: Outi
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Makitie
authors.forename: Eero
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kajantie