Paternal peri ‐conceptional physical activity and the risk of congenital heart disease in offspring: A case–control study

This study aims to investigate the potential association between paternal pre-conceptional physical activity levels (PA), along with paternal peri-conceptional smoking and alcohol consumption, and the risk of CHD in offspring.Materials and methodsAn observational case –control study was conducted in Lebanon, with 279 participants, aiming to investigate potential risk factors for CHD. We included children with confirmed CHD, born between 2012 and 2022. Controls born in the same timeframe were selected randomly from the general population using online questionnai re forms. Mean age of children included was 6 years old (0–10). The pre-conceptional PA was assessed using the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire validated in Arabic. In addition, paternal smoking, alcohol consumption, and maternal risk factors were collected.ResultsThe study included 128 CHD cases (45.9%) and their parents, as well as 151 healthy infants (54.1%) and their parents. There were no statistically significant variations in the alcohol consumption noted between the fathers in the case and control groups (p = 0.18). The paternal involvement in recreational-related PA during the peri-conception period was associated with a reduced risk of the CHD development in offspring by 46.9% (OR = 0.531, 95% CI: 0.301–0.936,p = 0.029). Additionally, increasing paternal total sitting time by 1 h above the average, which was approximately 260 min (4 h), increased the risk of CHD in offspring by 0.4% (p = ...
Source: Andrology - Category: Urology & Nephrology Authors: Tags: ORIGINAL ARTICLE Source Type: research