Maternal cardiovascular health in early pregnancy and the risk of congenital heart defects in offspring

Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the predominant birth defect. This study aimed to explore the association between maternal cardiovascular health (CVH) and the CHD risk in offspring. We used the prospective data from the Fujian Birth Cohort Study, collected from March 2019 to December 2022 on pregnant women within 14 weeks of gestation. Overall maternal CVH was assessed by seven CVH metrics (including physical activity, smoking, sleep duration, body mass index, blood pressure, total cholesterol, and fasting plasma glucose), with each metric classified as ideal, intermediate or poor with specific points. Participants were further allocated into high, moderate and low CVH categories based on the cumulative CVH score. The association with offspring CHD was determined with log-binominal regression models. A total of 19810 participants aged 29.7 (SD: 3.9) years were included, with 7846 (39.6