Higher Maternal Cortisol Associated With Lower Blood Pressure in Offspring From 3 Months to 5 Years of Age in the Odense Child Cohort

Background:Synthetic glucocorticoid exposure in late pregnancy may be associated with higher blood pressure in offspring. We hypothesized that endogenous cortisol in pregnancy relates to offspring blood pressure (OBP). Objective:To investigate associations between maternal cortisol status in third trimester pregnancy and OBP. Methods:We included 1317 mother-child pairs from Odense Child Cohort, an observational prospective cohort. Serum (s-) cortisol and 24-hour urine (u-) cortisol and cortisone were assessed in gestational week 28. Offspring systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure were measured at age 3, 18 months, and 3 and 5 years. Associations between maternal cortisol and OBP were examined by mixed effects linear models. Results:All significant associations between maternal cortisol and OBP were negative. In boys in pooled analyses, 1 nmol/L increase in maternal s-cortisol was associated with average decrease in systolic blood pressure (beta=-0.003 mmHg [95% CI, -0.005 to -0.0003]) and diastolic blood pressure (beta=-0.002 mmHg [95% CI, -0.004 to -0.0004]) after adjusting for confounders. At 3 months of age, higher maternal s-cortisol was significantly associated with lower systolic blood pressure (beta=-0.01 mmHg [95% CI, -0.01 to -0.004]) and diastolic blood pressure (beta=-0.010 mmHg [95% CI, -0.012 to -0.011]) in boys after adjusting for confounders, which remained significant after adjusting for potential intermediate factors. Conclusions:We found temporal sex dimorphic negative associations between maternal s-cortisol levels and OBP, with significant findings in boys. We conclude that physiological maternal cortisol is not a risk factor for higher blood pressure in offspring up to 5 years of age.

Automated summary

This study investigated the association between maternal cortisol levels in the third trimester of pregnancy and offspring blood pressure (OBP). The results showed negative associations between maternal cortisol levels and OBP, specifically in boys. This suggests that maternal cortisol is not a risk factor for higher blood pressure in offspring up to the age of 5.