Possible Link Between High Blood Pressure in Pregnancy and Thinking Skills in Children

November 2, 2009 by Cathy Ribble
Filed under: News

A recent article in the American Journal of Epidemiology discusses the possibility that high blood pressure complications during pregnancy could be linked to development of thinking skills in children.

A Denmark study shows some association between high blood pressure complications during pregnancy with the reasoning, intuition and perception skills in young adult men. According to the report published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, intelligence reports were compared for more than 17,000 men drafted into the Danish military service. Of the men who were tested at age 19, approximately 15 percent had developed poor thinking skills. The IQs of these men measured below 85.

The study revealed that the mothers of approximately 5 percent of these men had signs or symptoms of the life-threatening condition known as pre-eclampsia during their pregnancies. This included blood pressure readings above 140/90, protein in the urine, or swelling of extremities.

Men whose mothers had any of those signs or symptoms exhibited poorer thinking skills. Approximately 15 percent of the men whose mothers were not affected with those symptoms showed poor thinking skills, as opposed to 19 percent of the men whose mothers who did have the high blood pressure related symptoms.

The trend held true even after an adjustment for small birth-weight infants who are at risk for delayed or impaired brain development. Poor thinking skills were as much as a third more likely for men whose mothers experienced the pre-eclampsia symptoms during pregnancy.

As with most research findings, additional research is needed to make a conclusive finding high blood pressure problems in pregnancy could lead to the development of poor thinking skills for children. Researchers do not yet understand why such complications would have any effect on the developmental skills of the children.