研究：孕婦腎臟疾病增新生兒先天性畸形風險 心臟缺陷最常見 圖／本報AI製圖（示意圖）
A fresh study published in the journal Communications Medicine indicates that pregnant women with kidney disease have a higher risk of their newborns being born with congenital malformations compared to women without kidney issues. This finding highlights the importance of managing kidney health during pregnancy for optimal fetal development.
Researchers found that chronic kidney disease (CKD) in pregnant women may alter maternal physiology through declining kidney function, metabolic imbalances, and systemic inflammation. These changes can impact placental function and nutrient exchange, potentially increasing the risk of birth defects.
The study analyzed data from 2,689,092 pregnant women collected by the Korean National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) between 2008, and 2017. Researchers tracked the occurrence of major congenital malformations within 12 months of the newborns’ births, comparing women with chronic kidney disease (CKD) or end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) to healthy mothers.
The data showed that 4.79% of newborns from healthy mothers had major congenital malformations, compared to 5.29% of newborns from mothers with chronic kidney disease. The rate was significantly higher – 9.65% – among newborns whose mothers had end-stage kidney disease.
After adjusting for other variables, researchers determined that women with chronic kidney disease had a significantly increased risk of having a newborn with a major congenital malformation (aOR of 1.07, 95% CI 1.03–1.11). The risk was even greater for women with end-stage kidney disease (aOR of 1.71, 95% CI 1.16–2.52).
Among women with end-stage kidney disease, those who had received a kidney transplant (KT) showed an increasing trend in the risk of congenital malformations in their newborns (aOR of 1.65, 95% CI 1.06–2.59). However, the risk for newborns of mothers undergoing dialysis treatment was not statistically significant (aOR of 2.02, 95% CI 0.92–4….
