Prepregnancy physiology and subsequent preterm preeclampsia.

Background: Preeclampsia is a common pregnancy complication with debated etiology.

Objective: To evaluate the contribution of prepregnancy physiology, biochemistry, and anthropometrics to the subsequent development of preterm preeclampsia.

Study Design: One hundred twenty-four participants were recruited through open recruitment and targeted mailings.

Dilation of Pregnant Rat Uterine Arteries with Phenols from Extra Virgin Olive Oil Is Endothelium-Dependent and Involves Calcium and Potassium Channels.

During pregnancy, uterine vasculature undergoes significant circumferential growth to increase uterine blood flow, vital for the growing feto-placental unit. However, this process is often compromised in conditions like maternal high blood pressure, particularly in preeclampsia (PE), leading to fetal growth impairment. Currently, there is no cure for PE, partly due to the adverse effects of anti-hypertensive drugs on maternal and fetal health.

Subclinical Metabolic and Cardiovascular Factors and Brain White Matter Microstructural Integrity in Young Women.

Women who have experienced pregnancy complications, specifically preeclampsia and gestational diabetes, have well documented increased risks of cardiovascular, metabolic, and neurological disease later in life. This study examined how specific cardiovascular and metabolic risk factors for preeclampsia assessed in a non-pregnant state were associated with brain white matter microstructural integrity. This study examined sixty-two healthy women (mean age 31 ± 5 years) who received metabolic and cardiovascular assessments as well as multiple modality MRI imaging.

Care plan for individuals at risk for preeclampsia: shared approach to education, strategies for prevention, surveillance, and follow-up.

Preeclampsia is a multisystemic disorder of pregnancy that affects 250,000 pregnant individuals in the United States and approximately 10 million worldwide per annum. Preeclampsia is associated with substantial immediate morbidity and mortality but also long-term morbidity for both mother and offspring. It is now clearly established that a low dose of aspirin given daily, beginning early in pregnancy modestly reduces the occurrence of preeclampsia.

Placental Maternal Vascular Malperfusion is Associated with Prepregnancy and Early Pregnancy Maternal Cardiovascular and Thrombotic Profiles.

Characteristics of maternal vascular malperfusion (MVM) are frequently observed in placentas from pregnancies impacted by preeclampsia, intrauterine growth restriction, preterm labor, and intrauterine fetal demise. We sought to evaluate the associations of features of MVM with subclinical measures of cardiovascular health and coagulation potential in healthy young women. Sixty-three healthy young women were recruited and assessed prior to pregnancy on cycle day 9 ± 4, at gestational age 90 ± 6 of early pregnancy, and gestational age 216 ± 5 of late pregnancy.

Cardiovascular profiles associated with white matter hyperintensities in healthy young women.

Women who experience hypertension in pregnancy have increased risk of both chronic hypertension and dementia. High blood pressure is associated with increased evidence of white matter hyperintensities (WMH) in brain imaging. WMH are disruptions of the white matter of the brain that occur with demyelination and axonal degeneration, are associated with vascular disease, occur more frequently in people with hypertension, and are associated with cognitive impairment.

Corrigendum: Preeclampsia and its relationship to pathological brain aging.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2022.

Preeclampsia and its relationship to pathological brain aging.

The development of preeclampsia during pregnancy may have long-term effects on brain aging in women. Associations between preeclampsia and vascular dementia have been established, however the connection between preeclampsia and Alzheimer's disease has not been as thoroughly explored. Both preeclampsia and Alzheimer's disease have been associated with misfolded amyloid beta proteins and inflammation; due to these similarities, in this minireview, we examined the potential links between a history of preeclampsia and the development of dementia.

Randomized Controlled Trial Examining the Efficacy of Adding Financial Incentives to Best practices for Smoking Cessation Among pregnant and Newly postpartum Women.

We report results from a single-blinded randomized controlled trial examining financial incentives for smoking cessation among 249 pregnant and newly postpartum women. Participants included 169 women assigned to best practices (BP) or BP plus financial incentives (BP + FI) for smoking cessation available through 12-weeks postpartum. A third condition included 80 never-smokers (NS) sociodemographically-matched to women who smoked.

Association of pre-pregnancy subclinical insulin resistance with cardiac dysfunction in healthy nulliparous women.

Objectives: To investigate the association between pre-pregnancy subclinical insulin resistance and cardiovascular dysfunction in healthy nulliparous women, and with hypertension in subsequent pregnancy.

Study Design: Secondary analysis of a single center prospective observational study conducted November 2011-June 2014. Healthy nulliparous women underwent detailed cardiovascular and metabolic assessment.

Measures of adiposity correlate with renal filtration in young nulliparous women: An observational cohort study.

Objective: Renal hyperfiltration, which has been documented in severe obesity and obesity-associated hypertension, can occur with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. Identification of prepregnancy risk factors for unrecognized renal hyperfiltration could inform screening and intervention strategies to protect against pregnancy complications. In young, healthy, nulliparous women, associations between associations between measures of adiposity, insulin resistance, and renal vascular resistance were thus evaluated.

Subclinical cardiac stiffness is associated with arterial stiffness in healthy young nulligravid women: Potential links to preeclampsia.

Objectives: Preeclampsia is an independent risk factor for subsequent cardiovascular disease and diastolic dysfunction and has been linked to arterial stiffness. We hypothesized that arterial stiffness would be associated with echocardiographic markers of diastolic dysfunction in healthy nulligravid women.

Study Design: 31 healthy nulligravid women underwent assessment of peripheral arterial stiffness via aorto-femoral pulse wave velocity, popliteal distensibility and β stiffness measures as well as hemodynamic response to volume challenge.

Combined financial incentives and behavioral weight management to enhance adherence with gestational weight gain guidelines: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Excessive gestational weight gain, particularly among overweight and obese women, is associated with adverse perinatal outcomes. Current interventions to limit gestational weight gain have achieved only modest success.

Objective: We sought to improve adherence to gestational weight gain guidelines with a dual intervention of financial incentives and antenatal behavioral weight management.

Association of Antenatal Steroid Exposure With Survival Among Infants Receiving Postnatal Life Support at 22 to 25 Weeks' Gestation.

Importance: Although evidence of antenatal steroids (ANS) efficacy at 22 to 25 weeks' gestation is limited, increasingly these infants are treated with postnatal life support.

Objectives: To estimate the proportion of infants receiving postnatal life support at 22 to 25 weeks' gestation who had exposure to ANS, and to examine if the provision of ANS was associated with a higher rate of survival to hospital discharge and survival without major morbidities.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This multicenter observational cohort study consisted of 33 472 eligible infants liveborn at 431 US Vermont Oxford Network member hospitals between January 1, 2012, and December 31, 2016.

The Independent Contribution of Uterine Blood Flow to Birth Weight and Body Composition in Smoking Mothers.

Objective:  This study aims to evaluate the relationship of maternal smoking to uterine artery hemodynamics and examine independent contributions to birth weight and fetal body composition.

Study Design:  Women were enrolled in a prospective randomized controlled study targeting smoking abstinence. Uterine artery Doppler ultrasound was performed and volumetric blood flow was calculated.

Embryo cryopreservation and preeclampsia risk.

Objective: To determine whether assisted reproductive technology (ART) cycles involving cryopreserved-warmed embryos are associated with the development of preeclampsia.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting: IVF clinics and hospitals.

Effect of Pregnancy Interval on Second Pregnancy Blood Pressure Following Prior Preeclampsia.

Objective: Preeclampsia generally occurs in first pregnancies and tends not to recur when the interpregnancy interval (IPI) is short. We hypothesized that, in women experiencing preeclampsia in their first pregnancy, the difference in mean arterial pressure (MAP) across pregnancy between their index and subsequent pregnancy would be inversely associated with the length of time between pregnancies and that the interval between pregnancies will be directly associated with the likelihood of preeclampsia recurrence.

Methods: This was a retrospective chart review evaluating 171 women diagnosed with preeclampsia during their first pregnancy who had a subsequent pregnancy at our institution.

Maternal Hypertension and Mortality in Small for Gestational Age 22- to 29-Week Infants.

Infants born before 30 weeks gestational age (GA) to mothers with hypertension (HTN) experience lower rates of mortality and serious morbidities when corrected for maternal and infant characteristics. Growth restriction and maternal HTN are often associated. We sought to determine if small for gestational age (SGA) infants have similarly decreased mortality risk when born to mothers with HTN.

Associations of maternal obesity and smoking status with perinatal outcomes.

Maternal obesity and smoking are associated with adverse perinatal outcomes. These prevalent conditions contribute to health disparities. In this study, we examine whether maternal BMI moderates the impact of smoking cessation on short-term perinatal outcomes.

Differences in cardiovascular function comparing prior preeclamptics with nulliparous controls.

Objective: The objective of the current study was to evaluate cardiovascular function; including blood pressure, cardiac output, pulse wave velocity and vascular compliance in nonpregnant nulliparous women compared to women with a history of preterm preeclampsia.

Study Design: This was a case control study. Blood pressure was measured using the Finapres Pro.

Examination of Prepregnancy and Pregnancy Urinary Protein Levels in Healthy Nulliparous Women.

During pregnancy, abnormal proteinuria is defined as urine protein excretion greater than 300 mg/24 h. Although widely accepted, this definition is not based on clinical outcomes. Our study aimed to longitudinally examine proteinuria in healthy women prior to, and in late pregnancy and to compare inpatient and outpatient 24-hour urine collections.

Evaluation of an Algorithm to Predict Menstrual-Cycle Phase at the Time of Injury.

Context: Women are 2 to 8 times more likely to sustain an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury than men, and previous studies indicated an increased risk for injury during the preovulatory phase of the menstrual cycle (MC). However, investigations of risk rely on retrospective classification of MC phase, and no tools for this have been validated.

Objective: To evaluate the accuracy of an algorithm for retrospectively classifying MC phase at the time of a mock injury based on MC history and salivary progesterone (P4) concentration.

The effect of maternal hypertension on mortality in infants 22, 29weeks gestation.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of maternal hypertension on mortality risk prior to discharge, in infants 22+0 to 29+6weeks gestational age.

Study Design: We evaluated 88,275 North American infants whose births were recorded in Vermont Oxford Network centers between 2008 and 2011 Infants born between 22+0 and 29+6weeks gestational age were evaluated in 2-week gestational age cohorts and followed until death or discharge. Logistic regression was used to adjust for birth weight, antenatal steroid exposure, infant sex, maternal race, inborn/outborn, prenatal care and birth year.

Pregnancy induces persistent changes in vascular compliance in primiparous women.

Objective: Pregnancy induces rapid, progressive, and substantial changes to the cardiovascular system. The low recurrence risk of preeclampsia, despite familial predisposition, suggests an adaptation associated with pregnancy that attenuates the risk for subsequent preeclampsia. We aimed to evaluate the persistent effect of pregnancy on maternal cardiovascular physiology.