Brain Health in Midlife

Primary outcomes

1. Cardiometabolic Biomarkers - Glucose & Lipids

   Time frame: Baseline

   Assess differences in cardiometabolic biomarkers between the women diagnosed with a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy and healthy control.

2. Cardiometabolic Biomarkers - Insulin

   Time frame: Baseline

   Assess cardiometabolic marker values differences between the women diagnosed with a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy to the values of the healthy control.

3. Cardiometabolic Biomarkers - Hemoglobin A1C

   Time frame: Baseline

   Assess cardiometabolic marker values differences between the women diagnosed with a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy to the values of the healthy control.

4. Neurovascular Hemodynamics - Heart Rate

   Time frame: Baseline

   Assess differences in heart rate, mean arterial pressure, cerebral blood flow, and pulse wave velocity between the women diagnosed with a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy and healthy control. Heart rate was measured using a 5-lead electrocardiogram.

5. Neurovascular Hemodynamics - Mean Arterial Pressure

   Time frame: Baseline

   Assess differences in heart rate, mean arterial pressure, cerebral blood flow, and pulse wave velocity between the women diagnosed with a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy and healthy control. Mean arterial pressure was measured with each heart beat using a specialized cuff placed on the finger.

6. Neurovascular Hemodynamics - Cerebral Blood Flow

   Time frame: Baseline

   Assess differences in heart rate, mean arterial pressure, cerebral blood flow, and pulse wave velocity between the women diagnosed with a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy and healthy control. Cerebral blood flow, the velocity at which blood travels through the middle cerebral artery, was measured using transcranial doppler ultrasound.

7. Neurovascular Hemodynamics - Pulse Wave Velocity

   Time frame: Baseline

   Assess differences in heart rate, mean arterial pressure, cerebral blood flow, and pulse wave velocity between the women diagnosed with a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy and healthy control. Pulse wave velocity is an indicator of vessel stiffness and was measured using a specialized blood pressure cuff placed on the upper thigh.

8. Brain Structure

   Time frame: Baseline

   Assess differences in brain structure between women diagnosed with a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy and healthy controls using fMRI. A T1-weighted structural scan was completed (3D MPRAGE sequence). Structural data was segmented using FreeSurfer to quantify brain volumes. Volumes are reported in cubic millimeters (mm^3).

9. Brain Functional Connectivity

   Time frame: Baseline

   Assess differences in brain functional connectivity between women diagnosed with a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy and healthy controls using fMRI. A resting state scan run of gradient echo blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) scans was completed. Resting state data was processed using analysis protocols that explored functional neural networks (i.e., default mode network (DMN), attention network, salience network). Functional connectivity is reported as Fisher z-transformed correlation coefficients derived from fMRI data.

10. Alzheimer's Disease-related Biomarkers

    Time frame: Baseline

    Assess differences in Alzheimer's disease-related biomarkers between the women diagnosed with a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy and healthy control.