Brain Structural and Vascular Anatomy Is Altered in Offspring of Pre-Eclamptic Pregnancies: A Pilot Study

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Figure.
Visual 3D representation of the vessel radii calculated for a segmented TOF-MRA dataset of a single female, 8-year-old PE-F1 participant who was born at 34 weeks of gestation.

Table 1:

Study population characteristics

Characteristics at Testing	Control (n = 10)	PE (n = 10)	P Value^{^b}
Age (yr) (mean) (SD)	9.79 (0.89)	9.66 (1.07)	.769^{^c}
Male sex (No.) (%)	5 (50.0)	5 (50.0)	1.000^{^d}
Height (m) (mean) (SD)	1.37 (0.09)	1.39 (0.14)	.644^{^c}
Weight (kg) (mean) (SD)	30.12 (5.68)	30.66 (9.19)	.875^{^c}
BMI (kg/m²) (mean) (SD)	16.08 (1.93)	16.17 (5.45)	.962^{^c}
Caucasian (No.) (%)	10 (100)	10 (100)	1.000^{^d}
Household SES^{^a} (mean) (SD)	49.15 (9.07)	51.10 (9.10)	.637^{^c}
Psychiatric disorder (No.) (%)			.303^{^d}
Anxiety	0 (0)	2 (20)
Depression	0 (0)	1 (10)
ADHD	1 (10)	2 (20)
Characteristics at birth
Gestational age (wks) (mean) (SD)	39.47 (1.38)	37.16 (3.34)	.055^{^c}
Birth weight (g) (mean) (SD)	3419.9 (361.2)	2665.2 (788.7)	.013^{^c}
Length (cm) (mean) (SD)	51.38 (3.39)	48.50 (4.36)	.146^{^c}
Head circumference (cm) (mean) (SD)	34.31 (0.59)	32.65 (3.01)	.120^{^c}
Abdominal girth (cm) (mean) (SD)	32.69 (2.22)	29.81 (3.10)	.051^{^c}
Delivery type (No.) (%)			.070^{^d}
Vaginal	8 (80)	3 (30)
Cesarean birth	2 (20)	7 (70)
Maternal height (m) (mean) (SD)	1.64 (0.07)	1.65 (0.09)	.716^{^c}
Maternal weight (kg) (mean) (SD)	80.44 (14.31)	84.80 (16.96)	.556^{^c}
Maternal BMI (kg/m²) (mean) (SD)	30.06 (6.26)	30.99 (5.41)	.735^{^c}
Maternal age (yr) (mean) (SD)	32.27 (4.58)	30.59 (3.23)	.355^{^c}

Note:—SES indicates socioeconomic status; ADHD, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder; BMI, body mass index.
↵a Calculated according to Hollingshead Four Factor Index of Social Status.
↵b Bonferroni-corrected.
↵c Student t test.
↵d Fisher exact test.

Table 2:

Adjusted mean brain regional volumes (percentage of full intracranial volume)^{^a}

Brain Region	Control (n = 10) (mean) (SE)	PE (n = 10) (mean) (SE)	P Value^{^d}
Full intracranial volume (mL)	1431.7 (33.6)	1495.5 (33.6)	.201
Cerebellum^{^b}	8.72 (0.21)	9.58 (0.21)	.010
Frontal lobe^{^b}	16.62 (0.39)	17.08 (0.39)	.422
Occipital lobe^{^b}	6.25 (0.18)	6.58 (0.18)	.213
Parietal lobe^{^b}	9.41 (0.26)	9.75 (0.26)	.364
Temporal lobe^{^b}	8.98 (0.15)	9.65 (0.15)	.007
Left accumbens^{^c}	0.03 (0.001)	0.03 (0.001)	.993
Right accumbens^{^c}	0.03 (0.001)	0.03 (0.001)	.986
Left amygdala^{^c}	0.09 (0.003)	0.10 (0.003)	.023
Right amygdala^{^c}	0.11 (0.002)	0.12 (0.002)	.012
Brain stem^{^c}	1.27 (0.04)	1.40 (0.04)	.015
Left caudate^{^c}	0.20 (0.01)	0.21 (0.01)	.843
Right caudate^{^c}	0.20 (0.01)	0.21 (0.01)	.490
Left cerebral cortex^{^c}	23.25 (0.41)	24.39 (0.41)	.071
Right cerebral cortex^{^c}	24.42 (0.46)	25.39 (0.46)	.158
Left cerebral white matter^{^c}	13.42 (0.37)	13.96 (0.37)	.320
Right cerebral white matter^{^c}	12.17 (0.33)	12.85 (0.33)	.168
Left hippocampus^{^c}	0.21 (0.01)	0.23 (0.01)	.166
Right hippocampus^{^c}	0.22 (0.01)	0.23 (0.01)	.247
Left lateral ventricle^{^c}	0.34 (0.07)	0.36 (0.07)	.873
Right lateral ventricle^{^c}	0.31 (0.05)	0.32 (0.05)	.941
Left pallidum^{^c}	0.11 (0.004)	0.12 (0.004)	.327
Right pallidum^{^c}	0.12 (0.004)	0.12 (0.004)	.257
Left putamen^{^c}	0.31 (0.01)	0.32 (0.01)	.446
Right putamen^{^c}	0.34 (0.01)	0.34 (0.01)	.594
Left thalamus^{^c}	0.36 (0.01)	0.38 (0.01)	.335
Right thalamus^{^c}	0.41 (0.01)	0.42 (0.01)	.396

Note:—SE indicates standard error.
↵a All means were adjusted for age (9.72 yr), height (1.38 m), and weight. (30.39 kg).
↵b Derived from the Montreal Neurological Institute brain atlas.
↵c Derived from the Harvard-Oxford subcortical atlas.
↵d Bonferroni-corrected.

Table 3:

Adjusted mean brain regional vascular diameters (mm)^{^a}

Brain Region	Control (n = 10) (mean) (SE)	PE (n = 10) (mean) (SE)	P Value^{^d}
Cerebellum^{^b}	0.56 (0.01)	0.55 (0.01)	.417
Frontal lobe^{^b}	0.54 (0.01)	0.52 (0.01)	.112
Occipital lobe^{^b}	0.50 (0.01)	0.45 (0.01)	.004
Parietal lobe^{^b}	0.55 (0.01)	0.52 (0.01)	.025
Temporal lobe^{^b}	0.63 (0.01)	0.60 (0.01)	.128
Cerebral cortex^{^c}	0.57 (0.01)	0.55 (0.01)	.085
Cerebral white matter^{^c}	0.44 (0.02)	0.42 (0.02)	.454

↵a All means were adjusted for age (9.72 yr), height (1.38 m), and weight (30.39 kg).
↵b Derived from the Montreal Neurological Institute brain atlas.
↵c Derived from the Harvard-Oxford subcortical atlas.
↵d Bonferroni-corrected.