Linking maternal blood pressure with fetal cerebral haemodynamics and cortical growth in congenital heart disease.

Overview

Authors: Siân Wilson^1,2,3, Seungyoon Jeong^1,2, Louise Wilkins-Haug^4,5, P Ellen Grant^1,2,3,6, Caitlin K Rollins⁷, Sarah U Morton^1,2,3, Kiho Im^1,2,3

ORCID iDs: Siân Wilson, P Ellen Grant, Kiho Im

Fetal-Neonatal Neuroimaging & Developmental Science Centre, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
Division of Newborn Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
Department of Radiology, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
Department of Neurology, Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA

Institutions: Boston Children's Hospital (United States); Brigham and Women's Hospital (United States); Harvard University (United States)

Journal: EBioMedicine, volume 130, article 106367

Dates: received 10 March 2026; accepted 18 June 2026; published online 6 July 2026; in print August 2026

Type: Research article · Language: English

License: CC BY

Identifiers: DOI 10.1016/j.ebiom.2026.106367 · PMID 42407125 · PMCID PMC13351450 · OpenAlex W7167412762

Open access: gold, a free copy (OpenAlex)

Status: code verified

Categories: structural MRI / diffusion (modality), other (modality), human (organism), stroke (population), developmental (subfield)

Methods: Statistics, Preprocessing, fMRI & imaging

Keywords: Blood pressure, Brain, Congenital heart disease, Foetal, Maternal, MRI, Doppler

MeSH: Blood Pressure*, Cerebral Cortex*, Cerebrovascular Circulation*, Fetus*, Heart Defects, Congenital*, Hemodynamics*, Adult, Female, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Pregnancy, Retrospective Studies (* major topic)

Topic: Pregnancy and preeclampsia studies (Obstetrics and Gynecology, Medicine), according to OpenAlex

Funding: NHLBI NIH HHS (U01 HL098123, U01 HL098153, U01 HL131003, U01 HL098163, U01 HL098162, K08 HL157653, U01 HL098147); National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering; NIBIB NIH HHS (R01 EB031170); American Academy of Neurology; NINDS NIH HHS (R01 NS114087, K23 NS101120); National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke; National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Citations: not cited yet (Europe PMC); 42 references in the paper

Abstract

Background: Children with congenital heart disease (CHD) experience neurodevelopmental challenges, arising in part from altered brain maturation beginning in utero. There are currently no prenatal interventions to mitigate this risk. Foetal CHD is associated with alterations in maternal blood pressure (BP), for which therapies are available, so we investigated associations between maternal BP, foetal cerebral haemodynamics, and brain growth in foetuses with and without CHD.

Methods: Our single-centre retrospective cohort study first analysed maternal BP during pregnancy stratified by foetal CHD (n = 494), other foetal anomalies (n = 769), or no foetal anomalies (n = 111). We then performed a prospective study linking maternal BP with foetal brain MRI and cerebral and umbilical Doppler measures in pregnancies with foetal CHD (n = 97 MRI; 121 Doppler) and those with no foetal anomalies (n = 111 MRI; 86 Doppler).

Findings: Mothers carrying a foetus with CHD showed a distinct BP profile compared with unaffected controls and non-CHD foetal anomaly pregnancies. In CHD pregnancies, but not in controls, lower maternal diastolic BP was associated with lower cerebrovascular resistance, lower cerebroplacental flow ratio, and an attenuated reduction in foetal cortical surface area in sensorimotor, frontal and temporal cortical regions.

Interpretation: Lower maternal diastolic BP may reflect adaptive maternal–foetal circulatory coupling that enhances foetal cerebral perfusion and mitigates cortical growth impairment in CHD. We observe a link between maternal haemodynamics and foetal brain maturation in CHD, warranting further exploration in interventional studies.

Funding: Supported by the NINDS (R01NS114087, K23NS101120), NIBIB (R01EB031170), NHLBI (K08HL157653), AAN Clinical Research Training Fellowship, BBRF Young Investigator Awards, and the Farb Family Fund.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Code

No file of the authors' code could be read here: it is described below, and read at its source.

FNNDSC

License: none: the authors keep all their rights

State: the link answers, verified on 27 September 2026

Evidence: the link answers

Software Heritage: not checked

Found in: “Data sharing statement”

Not found: README, license file, CITATION.cff, environment file, tests, continuous integration, documentation

Availability: 1 check, the latest on 27 September 2026: the link answers (HTTP 200)

27 September 2026: the link answers (HTTP 200)

At the source: github.com/FNNDSC

The paper's code and data availability statement is in the Data section.

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Data

No dataset and no data link were found in the paper.

Data sharing statement

Image processing and analysis code for the manuscript is available via the centralised lab Github (https://github.com/FNNDSC). Anonymised data including MRI scans, metadata and derivative files used in this study will be available upon reasonable request with investigator support (; ), after signing a data sharing and usage agreement as required by the institution.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Versions

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Version 2, 28 September 2026

Authors: added Kiho Im (0000-0002-9239-8970); removed Kiho Im

Version 1, 27 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, pages, dates, 7 authors, 7 keywords, 12 MeSH terms, 7 funders, 42 references.

Cite

This paper

Wilson, S., Jeong, S., Wilkins-Haug, L., Grant, P. E., Rollins, C. K., Morton, S. U., & Im, K. (2026). Linking maternal blood pressure with fetal cerebral haemodynamics and cortical growth in congenital heart disease. EBioMedicine, 130, 106367. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ebiom.2026.106367

BibTeX

@article{wilson2026linking, author = {Wilson, Siân and Jeong, Seungyoon and Wilkins-Haug, Louise and Grant, P Ellen and Rollins, Caitlin K and Morton, Sarah U and Im, Kiho}, title = {{Linking maternal blood pressure with fetal cerebral haemodynamics and cortical growth in congenital heart disease}}, journal = {EBioMedicine}, year = {2026}, month = jul, volume = {130}, pages = {106367}, publisher = {Elsevier}, issn = {2352-3964}, doi = {10.1016/j.ebiom.2026.106367}, url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ebiom.2026.106367}, pmid = {42407125}, pmcid = {PMC13351450} }

RIS

TY - JOUR AU - Wilson, Siân AU - Jeong, Seungyoon AU - Wilkins-Haug, Louise AU - Grant, P Ellen AU - Rollins, Caitlin K AU - Morton, Sarah U AU - Im, Kiho TI - Linking maternal blood pressure with fetal cerebral haemodynamics and cortical growth in congenital heart disease T2 - EBioMedicine J2 - eBioMedicine PY - 2026 DA - 2026/07/06 VL - 130 SP - 106367 SN - 2352-3964 PB - Elsevier DO - 10.1016/j.ebiom.2026.106367 UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ebiom.2026.106367 LA - en ER -

CSL-JSON

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