Higher maternal cortisol associated with lower blood pressure in offspring from 3 months to 5 years of age in the odense child cohort

Hajir Al-Jorani; Jensen Richard Christian; Mikaela Jonasson; Anna Birukov; Anne Vibeke Schmedes; Henrik Thybo Christesen; Anja Fenger Dreyer; Tina Kold Jensen; Dorte Glintborg; Boye Lagerbon Jensen; Marianne Andersen

doi:10.1530/endoabs.90.RC9.5

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Endocrine Abstracts (2023) 90 RC9.5 | DOI: 10.1530/endoabs.90.RC9.5

ECE2023 Rapid Communications Rapid Communications 9: Adrenal and Cardiovascular Endocrinology 2 (6 abstracts)

Higher maternal cortisol associated with lower blood pressure in offspring from 3 months to 5 years of age in the odense child cohort

Hajir Al-Jorani ¹ , Richard Christian Jensen ^1,2 , Mikaela Jonasson ¹ , Anna Birukov ^3,4 , Anne Vibeke Schmedes ⁵ , Henrik Thybo Christesen ⁶ , Anja Fenger Dreyer ¹ , Tina Kold Jensen ² , Dorte Glintborg ¹ , Boye Lagerbon Jensen ⁷ & Marianne Andersen ¹

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Author affiliations

¹Odense University Hospital, Department of Endocrinology, Odense C, Denmark; ²University of Southern Denmark, Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Pharmacy and Environmental Medicine, Odense C, Denmark; ³Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Department of Nutrition, Boston MA, United States; ⁴German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbrücke, Department of Molecular Epidemiology, Nuthetal, Germany; ⁵Lillebaelt Hospital, Department of Biochemistry and Immunology, Vejle, Denmark; ⁶Odense University Hospital, Hans Christian Andersen Children’s Hospital, Odense C, Denmark; ⁷University of Southern Denmark, Department of Molecular Medicine, Odense C, Denmark

Background: Synthetic glucocorticoid exposure in late pregnancy may be associated with higher blood pressure in offspring. We hypothesized that endogenous cortisol in pregnancy relates to offspring blood pressure (OBP).

Objective: To investigate associations between maternal cortisol status in 3rd trimester pregnancy and OBP.

Methods: We included 1,317 mother-child pairs from Odense Child Cohort (OCC), an observational prospective cohort. Serum (s-) cortisol and 24 h urine (u-) cortisol and cortisone were assessed in gestational week 28. Offspring systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure were measured at age 3, 18 months and 3 and 5 years. Associations between maternal cortisol and OBP were examined by mixed effects linear models.

Results: All significant associations between maternal cortisol and OBP were negative. In boys in pooled analyses (3 and 18 months, 3 and 5 years of age), 1 nmol/l increase in maternal s-cortisol was associated with average decrease in SBP of -0.003 mmHg (95% CI: -0.005; -0.0003)) and DBP of -0.002 mmHg (95% CI: -0.004; -0.0004)) after adjusting for confounders. At 3 months of age, higher maternal s-cortisol was significantly associated with lower SBP (β=-0.01 mmHg (95% CI: -0.01; -0.004)) and DBP (β=-0.010 mmHg (95% CI: -0.012; -0.011)) in boys after adjusting for confounders and remained significant after adjusting for potential intermediate factors.

Conclusion: We found temporal sex dimorphic negative associations between maternal s-cortisol levels and OBP, with significant findings in boys. We conclude that physiological maternal cortisol is not a risk factor for higher blood pressure in offspring up to 5 years of age.