Association between Maternal LDL Level during Pregnancy and Offspring LDL Level at Age 8

Abstract

The pathological process of atherosclerosis begins in childhood and increases the risk of myocardial infarction, other cardiac diseases, and subsequent stroke. To investigate the relationship between maternal low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) level during pregnancy and LDL-C level in offspring at 8 years old. The Japan Environment and Children’s Study (JECS) is an ongoing birth cohort study to elucidate the effects of environmental factors on health from the fetal period to early childhood. A total of 1,226 mother–child pairs were enrolled in the present study, which was conducted as an adjunct study to the JECS at the Kochi Unit Center (Kochi, Japan). Peripheral blood samples and anthropometric measurements of the children were collected at age 8. In addition, 540 of the enrolled children’s fathers whose peripheral blood samples were collected at the time of JECS enrollment were also analyzed. The exposures of interest were maternal serum LDL-C level during pregnancy and paternal LDL-C level. The outcome of interest was serum LDL-C level of offspring at 8 years old. Mean (SD) serum LDL-C levels were 107.0 (25.6) mg/dL for mothers, 116.5 (27.4) mg/dL for fathers, and 89.9 (21.4) mg/dL for offspring. LDL-C level in mothers whose offspring had above-normal LDL-C levels (≥ 110 mg/dL) was significantly higher than that in mothers whose offspring had normal LDL-C levels (< 110 mg/dL). If a mother has a high LDL-C level during pregnancy, her offspring might also have a high LDL-C at age 8.