New Study Links Gestational Hypertension to Increased Seizure Risk in Children

A study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation has revealed a significant association between high blood pressure during pregnancy and a higher risk of seizures in children. Led by researchers at the University of Iowa Health Care, the study combines extensive clinical data with innovative animal models to uncover the biological mechanisms behind this link, highlighting the role of neuroinflammation as a potential therapeutic target.

The research team analyzed data from multiple sources, including the Epic Cosmos dataset - a comprehensive database with over 246 million patient records from hospitals and clinics across the U.S. and Lebanon. Additional validation came from smaller, richly detailed cohorts from the University of Iowa, Stanford University, and a large population-based cohort in Taiwan.

To better understand the biological mechanisms at play, the researchers developed two complementary mouse models of gestational hypertension. These models demonstrated that in-utero exposure to high blood pressure led to increased seizure sensitivity and mortality in offspring. The findings also highlighted the role of neuroinflammation and identified that male offspring were more vulnerable to seizures. “We were even able to reduce seizures in mice offspring with anti-inflammatory drugs based on what we learned from the model,” said Vinit Mahajan, MD, PhD, of Stanford University.

"The connection between high blood pressure in pregnant moms and seizures in children from these pregnancies had been postulated before, but never examined on a large scale, and never modeled in an animal," said Baojian Xue, PhD, first author and senior research scientist at UI. "With these new mouse models and this new connection between gestational hypertension and seizures, we can now perhaps come up with new childhood anti-seizure therapies."

Reference: J Clin Invest. 2025;135(12):e183393.https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI183393.