Blood pressure and growth at 6 years of age among offsprings of mothers with hypertension of pregnancy.

The association between hypertension of pregnancy and blood pressure (BP) and physical growth of the offspring at 6 years of age has been studied in a historical prospective study. Ninety-four consecutive women who developed hypertension during pregnancy and were hospitalized with a diagnosis of pre-eclampsia and their children were included. The comparison group consisted of individually-matched normal pregnant women. Each mother-child pair was examined when the child was 6 years of age. The mean systolic BP (SBP) of the offspring was 101.3 +/- 10.2 (S.D.) mmHg and that of the controls 99.8 +/- 9.5 mmHg. The mean diastolic BP (DBP) was significantly higher among the cases than among the controls (66.2 +/- 8.3 mmHg and 63.9 +/- 8.0 mmHg, P = 0.03). Among the cases, 11 children had a DBP above the 90th centile, whereas only four among the controls. A low, but significant, correlation was found between maternal and child BP for the cases. The DBP of the children with a positive family history of high BP was significantly higher than those with a negative history. There were no differences in height, weight or obesity index between cases and controls.