Researchers investigated if and how maternal angiogenic factors in the first half of pregnancy are linked with offspring left and right cardiac development.

• Measurement of maternal first and second trimester plasma PlGF and sFlt-1 concentrations was done in a population-based prospective cohort among 2,415 women and their offspring; their offspring underwent cardiac MRI at 10 years of age.

• Analysis indicated no correlation of maternal angiogenic factors with childhood cardiac ventricular structure and function within the normal range in a low-risk population.

• In children born small for their gestational age or preterm, there appeared higher childhood left ventricular mass only in correlation with an imbalance in maternal angiogenic factors in the first half of pregnancy.