genetic risk is linked to hypertension and obesity

Affecting up to 5% of pregnant women, usually in the third trimester of pregnancy, pregnancy hypertension or preeclampsia is characterized by abnormally high blood pressure in the arteries, even in women who do not usually have hypertension.

Hypertension during pregnancy, which can lead to stunted growth or premature birth in babies, is also associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease in mothers and their children later in life. There is a hereditary risk, as women with a family history of preeclampsia are more likely to develop the condition on their own.

According to a new international study coordinated by experts from the University of Nottingham (England) and published in the journal Nature Communications, this natural genetic variation influences the risk of preeclampsia. In particular, it highlights the role of two genes related to blood pressure and body mass index (BMI).

An increase in risk of 10 to 15%

The InterPregGen study involved 9,515 preeclampsia women and 157,719 control individuals to study their genetic makeup.

The research showed DNA variants in the ZNF831 and FTO genes, respectively, associated with blood pressure and body mass index as risk factors for preeclampsia. Further analysis revealed other blood pressure-related variants in the MECOM genes, FGF5 and SH2B3, also associated with preeclampsia. These variants increase the risk of preeclampsia by 10 to 15 percent, the researchers estimate.

Although the overall genetic predisposition to hypertension is a major risk factor for preeclampsia, this large number of variants, each with a small effect, also contributes to an increased risk.

The genes identified so far go hand in hand with other current knowledge on pre-eclampsia as hypertension and obesity are known maternal risk factors. What these new works show is that these associations are partly explained by hereditary predispositions. But these only explain part of the risk of preeclampsia. It remains to be seen whether the other unidentified factors act across the maternal or fetal genome, or both.

For Professor Fiona Broughton Pipkin, co-author of the work, “The new knowledge from this study could form the basis for more effective prevention and treatment of preeclampsia in the future and improve pregnancy outcomes for mother and baby. It could also encourage primary care physicians to take a closer look at women who have had preeclampsia “.