Fetal Hypertension

Bassily et al1 describe significant risk factors in an obstetrical history with subsequent cardiovascular risk, including low birthweight, pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes, and preterm labor. Moreover, there is the inference in the “fetal origins of adult disease” hypothesis that the pregnant mother “transmits” hypertension to her unborn child through “fetal programming” or “(epi)genomic” mechanisms.2 We believe that this “transmission” does take place through histologic evidence in the first few centimeters of the fetal end of the umbilical cord.