Infant neurodevelopmental outcome in pregnancies complicated by gestational hypertension and intra-uterine growth retardation

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Abstract
The neonatal outcome of 78 consecutive singleton pregnancies complicated by intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) and gestational hypertension were compared with the outcome of 78 adequately matched pregnancies complicated by idiopathic IUGR. The rate of low (< 5) 1-minute Apgar scores was higher in infants born to hypertensive mothers (12.8% vs 2.6% p = .035). No differences in the prevalence of other perinatal factors such as acidosis, respiratory distress syndrome, hypoglycemia, pneumothorax, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, intracranial hemorrhage, requirement for assisted ventilation or survival were found between cases and controls. After two years' follow-up, the rate of major neurological neonatal handicaps, was 2.8% in the cases and 1.4% in the controls (p = 0.56). Mild neurodevelopmental abnormalities were more frequent in infants born to hypertensive mothers (14.3% vs 2.9% p = .025). After adjustment by multiple logistic regression, to eliminate the effect of confounding factors, the probability of normal neurodevelopmental outcome was reduced by 82% in infants born to hypertensive mothers as compared to controls (Odds Ratio = 0.18; 95% confidence interval 0.05 to 0.82 p = .028). These findings suggest that pregnancies complicated by IUGR and gestational hypertension are associated with a high prevalence of subsequent neurodevelopmental problems among infants.

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