Abstract: Background: Gestational hypertension is not only one of the leading causes of perinatal death of pregnant women, but also might increase the risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases in offspring. Objective: To investigate the effects of gestational hypertension on blood pressure of offspring in childhood. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Methods: The data of baseline survey conducted between 2014 and 2016 from a cohort study including children aged from 6 to 12 years in Chongqing were used. The exposure group was defined as those whose mother had gestational hypertension, and controls were randomly selected in a 1∶4 ratio from the children whose mother had normal blood pressure during pregnancy, matched with gender, age and BMI. Physical examination was performed by well-trained nurses from Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University. BP levels and heart rate were measured on three to five separate occasions with an OMRON arm-type electronic sphygmomanometer (HEM-7051). The average value of the closest three of the blood pressure measurements was used to represent resting systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) level. If the first blood pressure screening met the criteria of hypertension, the second measurement was conducted in the following 2~4 weeks. Children were diagnosed with hypertension if both two BP measurements met the criteria for hypertension. Prehypertension and hypertension was defined as mean clinic-measured SBP and/or DBP ≥P90 and ＜P95, and ≥P95 respectively, based on age, gender, and height percentiles. Main outcome measures: Odds ratio (OR) that estimating the effect of gestational hypertension on the risk of blood pressure of offspring in childhood. Results: A total of 1,630 children (exposure group: 326; control group: 1,306) with mean age of 9.10±1.73 years were included for statistical analysis. The systolic and diastolic blood pressures of children in the exposed group were significantly higher than that of control group (SBP: 105.1±10.0 mmHg vs 103.5±9.7 mmHg; DBP: 64.2±7.6mmHg vs 63.2±7.9mmHg). The proportion of prehypertension and hypertension (SBP≥P90or DBP≥P90) in exposure group was 28.5%, which was significantly higher than that of control group (21.9%, P=0.012). The prevalence of childhood hypertension in exposure group was higher than that of control group (16.9% vs 12.9%, P=0.061). After adjusted for age, gender, household income, obesity of mother, breast-feeding, birthweight, weight, heart rate, and obesity, gestational hypertension was an independent risk factor for childhood hypertension (OR=1.66, 95%CI: 1.13~2.43). Conclusion: Gestational hypertension of the mother is an independent risk factor for offspring's childhood hypertension.

Key words: Gestational hypertension, Children, Blood pressure