While Paternal Cardiovascular Disease Did Not Show an Elevated Risk
A recent cohort study involving nearly 3.6 million children born in Sweden or Canada has explored the association between pre-pregnancy maternal cardiovascular disease (CVD) and the risks of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in offspring. The findings revealed that pre-pregnancy maternal CVD (including cerebrovascular disease, arrhythmia, heart failure, valvular and congenital heart diseases) was linked to increased risks of ADHD and ASD in children independent of preterm delivery. Interestingly, the authors discovered no excess risk of intellectual disability (ID) among offspring exposed to maternal CVD, and paternal CVD did not show a general association with offspring risks of any neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD). The study suggests that the maternal intrauterine environment plays a more significant role than genetics in connecting CVD and NDDs. Predictably, the associations between maternal CVD and offspring ADHD and ASD were more pronounced in males than females. The authors believe their research emphasizes the need for further investigations to analyze the causal mechanisms and pathways involved in these associations, including the potential impact of preconceptional CVD on physiological disturbances during pregnancy and the role of medication exposure.
