A new meta-analysis published in the Journal of Pediatric Urology discovered a strong correlation between maternal chronic hypertension (CH) and the higher risk of hypospadias in the offspring. Hypospadias is a complicated congenital disorder which is typified by the abortive development of ventral urethral spongiosum and is sometimes accompanied by incomplete foreskin and ventral chordee. Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) are among the maternal-placental variables that have been associated with a number of birth abnormalities, including the finding that HDP may be a stand-alone risk factor for hypospadias. Although earlier research has indicated that pregnancy-related hypertensive diseases raise the incidence of hypospadias, no studies have examined the impact of maternal chronic hypertension yet. Thus, this study evaluated the relationship with maternal CH and the risk of hypospadias by conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis of the observational data that are currently available.

EMBASE, Pubmed, SCOPUS, and manual techniques were searched in accordance with PRISMA 2020 standards and the MOOSE checklist. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) was used to rate the quality of the eligible papers that were included in the research. DerSimonian and Laird model pooled analysis for unadjusted and adjusted effect sizes was used to calculate OR and 95% CI. The I2 test was used to test for heterogeneity, while funnel plots were used to look at publication bias and to deal with uncertainty, sensitivity assessments are carried out.
The results of the study included a total of 1,130 publications through searches and 6 relevant studies with a high NOS quality score (6–9) were chosen. Among the 6 studies that qualified for analysis, a total of 519 hypospadias patients had maternal CH. One research is eliminated following sensitivity analysis because its definition of hypospadias is different. According to pooled unadjusted and adjusted OR, there is an increased risk of hypospadias in the setting of maternal CH among the five remaining trials. In the unadjusted pooled analysis, heterogeneity was considerable (I2= 73% P=0.005), but in the adjusted analysis, it was minimal (I2= 0% P=0.40). In all studies, the funnel plots were symmetrical which suggested no publication bias. Overall, results from both unadjusted and adjusted effect size models support the relationship between maternal CH and an increased incidence of hypospadias in children that is highlighted by this meta-analysis.
Source:
Situmorang, G. R., Hasan, Wahyudi, I., Abbas, T., Rodjani, A., & Raharja, P. A. R. (2024). Hypospadias Risk Associated with Chronic Hypertension During Pregnancy: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. In Journal of Pediatric Urology. Elsevier BV. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpurol.2024.07.029