Study: High blood pressure in pregnancy spells trouble
High blood pressure is bad -- we all know that. But new research shows that when a mother has high blood pressure, she can pass along those harmful effects to her child.
Pregnancy is that critical nine-month period when the structure and function of a child's brain develops.
For a study in the journal "Neurology," researchers looked at almost 400 adult men born between 1934 and 1944.
Their thinking abilities - including math and language skills - were assessed at age 20 - and then again at age 69.
The finding: men born to mothers who had high blood pressure during pregnancy scored lower at both ages. And they had a greater decline in the measures of intellectual ability as they got older - especially in math reasoning.
The authors conclude that a mother's high blood pressure during pregnancy predicts lower cognitive ability and greater cognitive decline in her adult offspring.
Pregnancy is that critical nine-month period when the structure and function of a child's brain develops.
For a study in the journal "Neurology," researchers looked at almost 400 adult men born between 1934 and 1944.
Their thinking abilities - including math and language skills - were assessed at age 20 - and then again at age 69.
The finding: men born to mothers who had high blood pressure during pregnancy scored lower at both ages. And they had a greater decline in the measures of intellectual ability as they got older - especially in math reasoning.
The authors conclude that a mother's high blood pressure during pregnancy predicts lower cognitive ability and greater cognitive decline in her adult offspring.
