Objective: We tested whether maternal hypertensive disorders in pregnancy predict age-related change in cognitive ability in the offspring up to old age.
Methods: Using mothers' blood pressure and urinary protein measurements from the maternity clinics and birth hospitals, we defined normotensive or hypertensive pregnancies in mothers of 398 men, who participated in the Helsinki Birth Cohort 1934-1944 Study. The men underwent the Finnish Defence Forces basic ability test twice: first during compulsory military service at age 20.1 (SD = 1.4) years and then in a retest at age 68.5 (SD = 2.9) years. The test yields a total score and subscores for tests measuring verbal, arithmetic, and visuospatial reasoning.
Results: Men born after pregnancies complicated by a hypertensive disorder, compared with men born after normotensive pregnancies, scored 4.36 (95% confidence interval, 1.17-7.55) points lower on total cognitive ability at 68.5 years and displayed a greater decline in total cognitive ability (2.88; 95% confidence interval, 0.07-5.06) after 20.1 years. Of the subscores, associations were strongest for arithmetic reasoning.
Conclusion: Maternal hypertensive disorders in pregnancy predict lower cognitive ability and greater cognitive decline up to old age. A propensity to lower cognitive ability and decline up to old age may have prenatal origins.