Pregnant woman's high blood pressure can change shape of baby's heart

患有高血压的母亲更有可能生下心脏形状略有不同的婴儿, 这一发现可能会影响这些妇女及其子女未来的心血管护理, according to a new study.

The research, published Thursday in the Journal of the American Heart Association, 为妊娠并发症如何影响产前和产后心脏健康增加了一层新的理解.

过去的研究表明，早产和低出生体重可能会影响婴儿心脏的形成. 这项新研究着眼于产前经历——是否有高血压, also called hypertension, among pregnant women also might affect the shape of babies' hearts.

来自英国的研究人员研究了134位母亲和她们的“足月”婴儿的数据, born after 37 weeks of pregnancy. Overall, 54位母亲血压正常，80位被诊断为子痫前期, or pregnancy-induced hypertension. 在出生和3个月时用超声心动图测量婴儿的心脏.

在出生时，患有高血压的母亲所生的婴儿右心室大小不同. At 3 months, the walls of their heart showed thickening.

“这些发现表明，患有妊娠高血压的母亲所生的孩子在发育早期就有心脏方面的差异," said Paul Leeson, who led the study. "This may be relevant to their heart function as they get older, and to their risk of developing high blood pressure."

The research, however, was limited by its observational nature.

“很难知道我们看到的这些变化是由怀孕期间血压升高直接引起的还是, for some reason, 是否更容易发生在有妊娠高血压风险的家庭中," said Leeson, 英国牛津大学心血管医学教授.

"Also, so far, 我们只研究了这些孩子出生后的头六个月, 所以我们不知道这些变化是否会持续到以后的生活中，是否可能与以后的疾病风险有关."

Kent Thornburg, who wasn't involved in the research, 他说受参与者相对较少和超声心动图技术限制的限制.

Still, he called the results "a big find."

“这是第一次有明确的证据表明，患有高血压的母亲生下的孩子心脏结构可能略有不同。," said Thornburg, 心血管研究主席和俄勒冈健康中心的医学教授 & Science University in Portland. “这很重要，因为我们认为心脏肌肉的变化使心脏在以后的生活中更容易患心脏病."

李森说，他和他的同事正在对参加这项研究的儿童进行新的研究. Those children, now between 5 and 8 years old, are undergoing more detailed studies of their hearts, brains and exercise capacity. Researchers are then comparing the changes to that of their siblings.

“这将有助于我们了解儿童时期心血管系统的发育情况, and whether the early changes we saw persist into later life," Leeson said.

他和他的团队还计划进行另一项研究，研究如何在怀孕期间和怀孕后控制母亲的血压，从而改善孩子的心血管健康.

索恩伯格说，他希望看到一项更大规模的婴儿心脏研究，对三组孕妇进行比较:一组有先兆子痫, another with hypertension alone, and a third group with neither.

他说，他希望目前的研究能说服儿科医生积极监测怀孕期间患有高血压的母亲的孩子.

"Doctors could say, “我希望你能允许我们特别关注你的孩子，并在他们成长过程中发现任何问题。,'" Thornburg said. "Under current circumstances, nobody will ever notice these kids until they're say, 38, 他们的情况是心脏病专家需要照顾他们."

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