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Approved research

Pre-eclampsia and cardiovascular risk: a case-control study of genes and cardiac function

Principal Investigator: Dr Hsu Chong
Approved Research ID: 28721
Approval date: July 17th 2018

Lay summary

Women with a history pre-eclampsia (PET) have double the risk of heart disease (HD) later on in life. The reasons for this are unclear. We don?t know if these are due to shared risk factors for HD or if PET has a direct effect how the heart works. We will use gene information held by the Biobank as well as information from very specialised heart scans called an MRI in women with a history of PET compared with ?controls?. We will also check for differences in changes in blood markers such cholesterol and CRP (an inflammatory marker). Our primary aims are to improve detection and prevention of cardiovascular disease in this high risk group. Wherever possible, assessments will be performed blinded to the exposure (i.e. pre-eclampsia and gestational hypertension). 1. MRI images will be assessed for standard measures of cardiac function using UK Biobank protocols and quantified for myocardial fibrosis (Pubmed ID 25140067). 2. Genetic data will be analysed by GWAS 3. Known cardiovascular risk markers such as lipid profiles, urea and electrolytes, and CRP. We require the full cohort of genetic, MRI data and results from the cardiovascular risk markers (from the UK Biobank sample panel) from female participants.