Table S1. Characteristics of the cohort by ethnic groups, mean (standard deviation) or numbers (%).
Total 811 (100)
Western Europe 336 (41)
South Asia 200 (25)
Middle East 126 (16)
Africa 62 (8)
East Asia 44 (5)
Eastern Europe 43 (5)
n n N n n n n
Visit 1 (15 weeks’ gestation) 811 Age
811 29.8 (4.8) 336 30.9 (4.5) 200 28.7 (4.5) 126 29.5 (5.5) 6
2 28.2 (5.1) 44 31.3 (4.8) 4
3 28.9 (4.2) Parity (%)
Nulliparous
377 (46.5) 176 (52.4) 84 (42.0) 44 (34.9)
2
7 (43.5) 18 (40.9)
2
8 (65.1)
Multiparous
434 (53.5) 160 (47.6) 116 (58.0) 82 (65.1)
3
5 (56.5) 26 (59.1)
1
5 (34.9)
Education level, (years) (%) <10 years
133 (16.5) 10 (3.0) 35 (17.6) 46 (37.1)
2
9 (46.8) 8 (18.2) 5 (11.9)
≥10
672 (83.5) 324 (97.0) 164 (82.4) 78 (62.9)
3
3 (53.2) 36 (81.8)
3
7 (88.1)
Early life SEPᵃ score
799 -0.0 (1.0) 334 0.8 (0.7) 199 -0.6 (0.8) 122 -0.5 (0.8) 5
8 -0.5 (0.9) 44 -0.7 (0.9) 4
2 -0.3 (0.8) Family history of CVDᵇ (%)
215 (26.5) 88 (26.2) 59 (29.5) 36 (28.6) 7 (11.3) 12 (27.3)
1
3 (30.2)
Pre-pregnancy BMIᶜ (kg/m2)
799 24.5 (4.8) 332 24.6 (4.8) 196 23.7 (4.2) 125 25.9 (5.1) 6
1 25.8 (5.8) 44 22.6 (3.8) 4
1 23.7 (4.3) Pre-pregnancy regular smoking
(%) Yes
93 (11.6) 64 (19.2) 1 (0.5) 8 (6.4) 2 (3.2) 4 (9.1)
1
4 (34.1)
No
711 (88.4) 269 (80.8) 198 (99.5) 117 (93.6) 6
0 (96.8) 40 (90.9) 2
7 (65.9)
Pre-pregnancy physical activity (%)
Regular
310 (39.4) 174 (53.4) 57 (29.5) 32 (25.6)
1
5 (25.9) 16 (37.2)
1
6 (38.1)
Not regular
477 (60.6) 152 (46.6) 136 (70.5) 93 (74.4)
4
3 (74.1) 27 (62.8)
2
6 (61.9)
Missing 24 (3.0)
Adverse life events (%) 0
514 (63.4) 218 (67.1) 122 (61.6) 79 (64.8)
4
2 (70.0) 22 (52.4)
3
1 (75.6)
1
202 (24.9) 81 (24.9) 59 (29.8) 26 (21.3)
1
3 (21.7) 16 (38.1) 7 (17.1)
≥2 72 (8.9) 26 (8.0) 17 (8.6) 17 (13.9) 5 (8.3) 4 (9.5) 3 (7.3)
Missing 23 (2.8)
Visit 2 (28 weeks’ gestation)
762 316 192 117
5
5 40
4 0
Gestational diabetes mellitus (%) 99 (12.9) 34 (10.9) 28 (14.9) 19 (17.0) 5 (9.1) 6 (15.4) 7 (16.7)
Hospital data registered at delivery
Hypertensive pregnancy
complications (%) 46 (6.0) 24 (7.2) 11 (5.5) 6 (4.8) 2 (3.2) 1 (2.3) 2 (4.7)
Visit 3 (14 weeks postpartum)
655 280 164 99 4
0 36 3
6 Postpartum weight retention (kg)
642 3.9 (5.3) 276 2.3 (4.9) 158 5.1 (4.9) 99 5.1 (6.2) 3
9 6.3 (4.7) 36 3.7 (3.5) 3
4 5.3 (7.0) Feeding mode (%)
Exclusive breastfeeding
381 (47.0) 173 (64.6) 82 (51.3) 53 (57.0) 2
4 (60.0) 24 (66.7) 2
5 (69.4)
Mixed-feeding 171 (21.1) 61 (22.8) 55 (34.4) 29 (31.2) 1 (40.0) 6 (16.7) 4 (11.1)
6
Exclusive formula-feeding 81 (10.0) 34 (12.7) 23 (14.4) 11 (11.8) 0 (0.0) 6 (16.7) 7 (19.4)
Missing 178 (21.9)
Hypertension (%) 26 (4.0) 13 (4.6) 5 (3.0) 4 (4.0) 1 (2.5) 2 (5.6) 1 (2.8)
ᵃSEP: Socio-economic position. ᵇCVD: Cardiovascular disease. ᶜBMI: Body mass index. The number of missing values for the actual visit are reported for variables with > 20 missing.
Table S2. Blood pressure levels and pulse by ethnic groups. Values are mean (95% CI) or numbers (%). Values are adjusted for weeks' gestation at the respective time points.
Total Western Europe South Asia Middle East Africa East Asia Eastern Europe
n n Mean (95% CI) n Mean (95% CI) n Mean (95% CI) n Mean (95% CI) n Mean (95% CI) n Mean (95% CI)
Systolic blood pressure (mmHg)
Visit1ᵃ 807 336 105.3 (104,2, 106.3) 198 98.4 (97.0, 99.8) 125 100.3 (98.6, 102.0) 61 100.7 (98.8, 103.2) 44 99.3 (96.4, 102.2) 43 106.8 (104.2, 106.2) Visit 2ᵇ 746 310 106.4 (105.4, 107.4) 188 101.3 (99.9, 102.6) 115 103.0 (101.4, 104.7) 52 102.4 (99.9, 104.9) 40 102.0 (99.1, 104.8) 41 108.6 (105.8, 111.5) Visit 3ᶜ 643 277 106.0 (104.7, 107.2) 162 100.6 (98.9, 102.2) 94 104.2 (102.0, 106.3) 39 104.7 (101.3, 108.0) 35 105.3 (101.8, 108.8) 36 109.0 (105.5, 112.4) Diastolic blood pressure (mmHg)
Visit 1 807 336 68.5 (67.6, 69.3) 198 65.7 (64.6, 66.7) 125 66.0 (64.6, 67.3) 61 65.9 (63.9, 67.8) 44 66.9 (64.7, 69.1) 43 68.6 (66.3, 70.8) Visit 2 746 310 68.2 (67.5, 69.0) 188 66.1 (65.0, 67.1) 115 66.3 (65.0, 67.5) 52 65.5 (63.6, 67.4) 40 66.5 (64.3, 68.7) 41 68.4 (66.2, 70.6) Visit 3 643 277 72.4 (71.4, 73.4) 162 69.4 (68.1, 70.7) 94 70.6 (68.9, 72.4) 39 70.8 (68.0, 73.5) 35 74.2 (71.3, 77.0) 36 73.0 (70.2, 75.8) Pulse rate (BPM)
Visit 1 803 335 75.9 (74.9, 77.0) 198 82.3 (80.9, 83.7) 124 81.1 (79.4, 82.9) 60 81.0 (78.5, 83.5) 43 80.0 (77.1, 82.9) 43 77.2 (74.3, 80.1) Visit 2 742 308 83.4 (82.2, 84.6) 188 91.0 (89.4, 92.5) 114 90.0 (88.0, 92.0) 51 90.0 (87.1, 93.0) 40 89.5 (86.2, 92.8) 41 87.1 (83.8, 90.4) Visit 3 636 275 71.0 (69.9, 72.1) 161 75.0 (73.5, 76.5) 92 72.5 (70.6, 74.5) 38 70.4 (67.3, 73.5) 35 74.6 (71.5, 77.8) 35 75.3 (72.1, 78.4)
ᵃVisit 1: 15 weeks’ gestation. ᵇVisit 2: 28 weeks’ gestation. ᶜVisit 3: 14 weeks postpartum. Incomplete data on systolic and diastolic blood pressure because of missing values for 4-16 women.
Incomplete data on pulse rate on pulse rate because of missing values for 8-19 women. Ethnic groups that differed statistical significant (p<0.01) from the Western European group (reference) are marked with bold numbers. Statistics: ANOVA, Bonferroni corrected.
