Hypertensive disorders during pregnancy and cognitive outcomes in children: the ALSPAC study.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to examine the associations between hypertensive disorders during pregnancy and intelligence quotient (IQ) in children at the ages of 8 and 16 years.

METHODS

Our study sample comprised participants in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) cohort, an ongoing population-based longitudinal birth cohort in Bristol, Avon, United Kingdom. Offspring IQ was assessed using a shortened version of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-III) at age 8 and the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI) at approximately age 16. This study included over 4900 and 3300 mother‒child pairs at ages 8 and 16, respectively. Binary and multinomial logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for the associations.

RESULTS

Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy were not associated with lower offspring IQ at ages 8 or 16. Although gestational hypertension, but not pre-eclampsia, was associated with higher odds of above-average IQ compared with average IQ at age 16 in the multinomial logistic regression model, this association was not observed at age 8 or replicated in the sensitivity analysis using age-specific IQ tertiles.

CONCLUSION

We found no evidence that hypertensive disorders of pregnancy were associated with lower offspring IQ at ages 8 or 16. Further studies are warranted to confirm these findings.