Prospective assessment of neurodevelopment in children following a pregnancy complicated by severe pre-eclampsia

Objective To prospectively examine whether children of women with a pregnancy affected by severe pre-eclampsia (PE), compared to children of women without a PE-affected pregnancy, have differences in neurodevelopmental performance up to 5 years of age. Design Prospective cohort study. Setting Tertiary care centre. Participants Women were recruited following a PE-affected pregnancy. After each PE participant was recruited, the next normotensive woman without a prior history of PE and matched by parity, maternal age and race was invited to participate. Women with a history of chronic hypertension, diabetes or renal disease were excluded. Total enrolment included 129 PE-affected and 140 normotensive mothers. Outcome measures The primary outcome measure was failure of the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ). The ASQ was completed yearly, until age 5. Results A significant difference was found in the proportion of ASQ categories failed in year 3 (p Conclusions Severe PE is associated with other adverse pregnancy outcomes, including intrauterine growth restriction and preterm birth, all of which are associated with increased neurodevelopment delays. Thus, PE indicates a need for early screening and intervention at the neurodevelopmental level to improve children9s long-term health, with larger studies required to tease out contributing factors.