Neurodevelopmental outcome in children born to mothers with hypertension in pregnancy: the significance of suboptimal intrauterine growth.

In this investigation of 45 children born to mothers with hypertension in pregnancy, our objective was to examine the role of a fetal risk factor (suboptimal intrauterine growth [SOIUG]) in determining developmental outcome. There were two groups of children: Group 1 (n=26; 10 males, 16 females; mean testing age 56.77 mo [SD 13.03], range 41-82 mo; mean gestational age 32.96 wks [SD 2.24], range 27-38 wks; mean birthweight 1,984.42g [SD 563], range 1,046-3,515g) without, and Group 2 (n=19; 6 males, 13 females; mean testing age 57.63 mo [SD 14.86], range 40-84 mo; mean gestational age 34.21 wks [SD 2.10], range 29-39 wks, mean birthweight 1,572g [SD 365], range 855-2,690g) with SOIUG. We found that SOIUG was associated with a significant reduction in cognitive and motor skills (p<0.05). Visuospatial (p<0.01) as well as motor skills (p<0.001) were linearly associated with the extent of intrauterine growth deficit when the latter was treated as a continuous variable. To conclude, an increase in intrauterine growth deficit is accompanied by a proportionate decline in quality of developmental outcome in children born to mothers with hypertension in pregnancy.