Interpregnancy interval and subsequent perinatal risk of congenital heart disease in Guangzhou, Southern China: a retrospective cohort study, 2014–2019

Abstract

Background

The association between maternal interpregnancy interval (IPI) and congenital heart disease (CHD) in neonates remains inconclusive. This study aimed to examine the effect of maternal IPI on birth risk of CHD.

Methods

Chinese women with two consecutive singleton deliveries in Guangzhou between January 2014 and December 2019 were selected as participants. Information on IPI and CHD was extracted from the Guangzhou Perinatal Health Care and Delivery Registry and the Guangzhou Birth Defects Surveillance Program. We stratified IPI into four categories: <24 months, 24–35 months, 36–59 months, and ≥60 months. A multivariate logistic regression model was used to examine the association between IPI and CHD. Subgroup analysis was also performed to assess whether the associations differed across top three CHD subtypes.

Results

For 119,510 women enrolled in this study, the mean ages at two consecutive deliveries were 26.2 ± 3.8 and 28.8 ± 4.0 years, which yielded a median IPI of 51.2 (interquartile range, 32.1–77.2) months. Among them, 828 delivered infants with CHD during their second pregnancy. There was a J-shaped curve relationship between IPI and CHD with the lowest birth prevalence (5.33‰) at 24–35-month interval. Compared to women with an IPI of 24–35 months, those with an IPI ≥60 had an increased risk of delivering infants with CHD (adjusted odds ratio (OR), 1.41; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.19–1.64). However, for those with an IPI <24 months (adjusted OR, 1.24; 95% CI, 0.97–1.51), IPI was statistically insignificant associated with the risk of delivering infants with CHD (p = .12). There were different patterns of associations for different CHD subtypes.

Conclusions

Longer maternal IPI (≥60 months) was associated with an increased risk of delivering infants with CHD in the Chinese population.

Keywords:

• Interpregnancy interval
• congenital heart disease
• congenital anomalies
• maternal age；perinatal

Acknowledgements

The authors thank all the staff from the Guangzhou Perinatal Health Care and Delivery institutions for data collection.

Disclosure statement

No potential competing interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

The data and materials used in this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request and administrative permission from Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center and Health Commission of Guangzhou.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Guangzhou Municipal Commissions of Health Programs under Grant Numbers 20211A011030 and 2020A031002.