# Prenatal and Perinatal Factors of Life’s Essential 8 Cardiovascular Health Trajectories

## TL;DR

The study finds that factors like prepregnancy obesity and smoking during pregnancy are linked to poorer cardiovascular health in children from childhood to adolescence.

## Contribution

The study identifies specific prenatal and perinatal factors associated with long-term cardiovascular health trajectories in children.

## Key findings

- Prepregnancy obesity, smoking during pregnancy, and formula-feeding are linked to lower cardiovascular health scores in children.
- These factors are associated with delayed decline in cardiovascular health and slower improvement rates.
- Gestational hypertension or preeclampsia is linked to faster initial gains but quicker decline in cardiovascular health.

## Abstract

This cohort study evaluates associations of prenatal and perinatal factors with offspring cardiovascular health from childhood to late adolescence.

What are the prenatal and perinatal factors of Life’s Essential 8 cardiovascular health (CVH) trajectories across childhood and adolescence?

This cohort study of 1333 children found that prepregnancy obesity, smoking during pregnancy, and formula-feeding in the first 6 months of life were each associated with persistently lower CVH by 1 to 2 points from childhood to adolescence, and statistically significant (but small) differences in CVH trajectory parameters including timing and rate of decline in CVH.

These findings suggest that future work should examine whether early-life interventions that address these factors would be effective in optimizing CVH in children.

The American Heart Association put forth the Life’s Essential 8 construct to assess cardiovascular health (CVH) based on 8 biological and behavioral factors. Few studies have identified prenatal and perinatal factors of CVH trajectories across childhood and adolescence, life stages where disease precursors and health behaviors are established.

To examine associations of prenatal and perinatal factors with child CVH trajectory.

Data from the Project Viva prebirth cohort from April 1999 to August 2021 were used. Participant inclusion required 3 or more CVH metrics in early childhood (median [range] age, 3.2 [2.8-6.2] years) or 4 or more in midchildhood (median [range] age, 7.7 [6.6-10.9] years), early adolescence (median [range] age, 13.0 [11.9-16.6] years), or late adolescence (median [range] age, 17.5 [15.4-20.1] years). Data were analyzed from April 1 to September 30, 2024.

Prenatal and perinatal factors.

CVH score (0-100 points), calculated as the unweighted average of all available CVH metrics at each life stage.

Among 1333 children included, 680 (51.0%) were male, 78 (5.9%) Hispanic, 181 (13.6%) non-Hispanic Black, and 959 (71.9%) non-Hispanic White. The estimated mean (SD) age of inflection when CVH started to decline was 10.2 (0.7) years for male children and 10.0 (0.6) years for female children. Prepregnancy overweight or obesity (vs healthy or underweight), smoking during pregnancy (vs never), and formula-feeding (vs breastfeeding) in the first 6 months were each associated with lower CVH from childhood to adolescence, but gestational diabetes (vs normal glucose tolerance) was not associated with CVH. Prepregnancy obesity was associated with later inflection (β = 0.1; 95% CI, 0.0 to 0.2 years) and slower CVH decline after inflection (β = 0.2; 95% CI, 0.1 to 0.4 points per year). Gestational hypertension or preeclampsia (vs normal blood pressure) was associated with faster CVH gain before inflection (β = 0.3; 95% CI, 0.1 to 0.5 points per year), earlier inflection (β = −0.1; 95% CI, −0.2 to 0.0 years), and faster CVH decline after inflection (β = −0.3; 95% CI, −0.5 to −0.1 points per year), while smoking during pregnancy was associated with later inflection (β = 0.2; 95% CI, 0.1 to 0.3 years).

In this cohort study, prepregnancy overweight or obesity, smoking during pregnancy, and formula-feeding in the first 6 months of life were each associated with adverse CVH trajectories early in life. Future work should examine whether interventions that address these factors would be effective in optimizing CVH in children.