Asthma is a common chronic disease in pregnancy that affects placental function and fetal growth and associated with cardio‐metabolic disorders in the offspring but the mechanisms are unknown. This study explored whether maternal asthma in pregnancy is associated with the development of offspring microvascular structure and whether it was related to biomarkers of angiogenesis in utero. Children aged 4 to 6 years, born to either asthmatic mothers (n = 38) or healthy controls (n = 25), had their retinal microvascular structure examined. Maternal plasma PlGF concentrations at 18 and 36 weeks’ gestation were measured. There was a significant global difference in all retinal microvascular measures between children of asthmatic mothers relative to controls and increased retinal venular tortuosity in children born to asthmatic mothers (7.1 (95% CI 0.7‐13.5); P = .031). A rise in plasma PlGF from 18 to 36 weeks’ gestation was observed in the control population which was significantly lower in the asthma group by 190.9 pg/mL. PlGF concentrations were correlated with microvascular structure including arteriolar branching and venular tortuosity. These exploratory findings indicate that exposure to maternal asthma during pregnancy is associated with persistent changes in microvascular structure in childhood that may be driven by alterations to angiogenic mechanisms in utero.

中文翻译：

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孕期母体哮喘对后代视网膜微血管结构的影响及其与子宫内胎盘生长因子产生的关系。

哮喘是妊娠期常见的慢性疾病，影响胎盘功能和胎儿生长，并与后代的心脏代谢紊乱有关，但其机制尚不清楚。本研究探讨了妊娠期母亲哮喘是否与后代微血管结构的发育有关，以及是否与子宫内血管生成的生物标志物有关。对患有哮喘的母亲 (n = 38) 或健康对照 (n = 25) 所生的 4 至 6 岁儿童进行了视网膜微血管结构检查。测量了妊娠 18 周和 36 周时的母体血浆 PlGF 浓度。与对照组相比，哮喘母亲的孩子在所有视网膜微血管测量方面存在显着的全球差异，并且哮喘母亲所生孩子的视网膜小静脉曲折增加（7.1（95% CI 0.7-13.0）。P  = .031）。在对照人群中观察到从妊娠 18 周到 36 周的血浆 PlGF 升高，哮喘组的血浆 PlGF 显着降低了 190.9 pg/mL。PlGF 浓度与微血管结构相关，包括小动脉分支和小静脉曲折。这些探索性发现表明，孕期暴露于母亲哮喘与儿童期微血管结构的持续变化有关，这可能是由子宫内血管生成机制的改变所驱动的。