The impact of hypoxemia in FGR and DM on fetal/offspring hearts
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The impact of in utero hypoxaemia in fetal growth restricted and diabetic pregnancies on fetal perinatal cardiac adaptation and offspring cardiovascular health.
IRAS ID
265551
Contact name
Olga Patey
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Joint Research & Enterprise Services (JRES)
Duration of Study in the UK
5 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Fetal growth restriction (FGR) and hypoxemia due to placental insufficiency - a condition when a developing baby within the womb has lower-than-normal oxygen levels - affect 5% to 10% of pregnancies. FGR is known to impact on pregnancy outcome and predispose to long-term cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension, metabolic syndrome and premature death. A number of animal and human studies have demonstrated abnormal cardiac and vascular changes in FGR fetuses presumably due to fetal hypoxemia that possibly could explain the increased susceptibility to cardiovascular disease in adult life, but the mechanisms of developmental programming are remain to be established.
Diabetes mellitus (DM) in pregnancy has become more prevalent and affects 3 to 20% of pregnancies. Diabetic pregnancy is an important cause of perinatal morbidity and mortality with a five-fold greater risk of stillbirth, with 50% of stillbirths in this group classified as unexplained. Recent animal studies have reported that maternal diabetes can cause fetal hypoxemia. Fetal hypoxemia in diabetic pregnancies might be a reason for baby’s health dangerous complications around the time of birth and greater risk of a heart disease in later life, but mechanisms of this link are unknown.
We plan to study pregnancies affected by FGR and FGR and apply traditional and modern ultrasound techniques to measure how baby’s heart works just before and soon after birth, and then at 6-months and 2-3 years of age. We shall investigate relationships of heart measurements with fetal hypoxia biomarkers. We will try to find out if we can understand the effect of low oxygen on the fetal and offspring hearts in FGR and DM, and develop more accurate ways to predict the short- and long-term health outcomes of these babies , so that any changes can be found earlier on in the fetal period. This could help to prevent complications around the time of birth and improve long-term cardiovascular health in offspring of FGR and DM pregnancies.REC name
London - London Bridge Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/LO/1900
Date of REC Opinion
23 Jul 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion