Maternal obesity in pregnancy and children's cardiac function and structure: A systematic review and meta-analysis of evidence from human studies

Tamara Den Harink*, Manouck J.M. Roelofs, Jacqueline Limpens, Rebecca C. Painter, Tessa J. Roseboom, Arend W. Van Deutekom

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articleAcademicpeer-review

11 Citations (Scopus)
31 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The prevalence of obesity is increasing worldwide. Experimental animal studies demonstrate that maternal obesity during pregnancy directly affects cardiac structure and function in their offspring, which could contribute to their increased cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Currently, a systematic overview of the available evidence regarding maternal obesity and alterations in cardiac structure and function in human offspring is lacking. We systematically searched the electronic databases Embase, MEDLINE and NARCIS from inception to June 29, 2022 including human studies comparing cardiac structure and function from fetal life onwards in offspring of women with and without obesity. The review protocol was registered with PROSPERO International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (identifier: CRD42019125071). Risk of bias was assessed using a modified Newcastle-Ottawa scale. Results were expressed using standardized mean differences (SMD). The search yielded 1589 unique publications, of which thirteen articles were included. Compared to offspring of women without obesity, fetuses of women with obesity had lower left ventricular strain, indicative of reduced systolic function, that persisted in infancy (SMD -2.4, 95% confidence interval (CI) -4.4 standard deviation (SD) to -0.4 SD during fetal life and SMD -1.0, 95% CI -1.6 SD to -0.3 SD in infancy). Furthermore, infants born to women with obesity had a thicker interventricular septum (SMD 0.6 SD, 95% CI 0.0 to 1.2 SD) than children born to women without obesity. In conclusion, cardiac structure and function differs between fetuses and children of women with and without obesity. Some of these differences were present in fetal life, persisted in childhood and are consistent with increased CVD risk. Long-term follow-up research is warranted, as studies in offspring of older age are lacking.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere0275236
JournalPLoS ONE
Volume17
Issue number11 November
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 8 Nov 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by a grant of the Dutch Heart Foundation (2013T085) (TJ Roseboom) and a Postdoc Stipend of Amsterdam Reproduction & Development (AW van Deutekom). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. There was no additional external funding received for this study.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 den Harink et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

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