Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T05:12:18.978Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Birth weight and adolescent blood pressure measured at age 12 years in the Gateshead Millennium Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 January 2019

K. D. Mann
Affiliation:
Institute of Health & Society, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
L. Basterfield
Affiliation:
Institute of Health & Society, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK Human Nutrition Research Centre, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
C. Wright
Affiliation:
School of Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
K. Parkinson
Affiliation:
Institute of Health & Society, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK Human Nutrition Research Centre, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
J. K. Reilly
Affiliation:
Institute of Health & Society, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK Human Nutrition Research Centre, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
J. J. Reilly
Affiliation:
School of Psychological Sciences and Health, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK
A. J. Adamson
Affiliation:
Institute of Health & Society, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK Human Nutrition Research Centre, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
M. S. Pearce*
Affiliation:
Institute of Health & Society, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
on behalf of the GMS core team
Affiliation:
Institute of Health & Society, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK Human Nutrition Research Centre, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK School of Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK School of Psychological Sciences and Health, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK
*
Address for correspondence: Prof. Mark S. Pearce, Institute of Health & Society, Newcastle University, Sir James Spence Institute, Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 4LP, UK. E-mail: mark.pearce@ncl.ac.uk

Abstract

Birth weight and early growth have been associated with later blood pressure. However, not all studies consistently find a significant reduction in blood pressure with an increase in birth weight. In addition, the relative importance of birth weight and of other lifestyle and environmental factors is often overlooked and the association is rarely studied in adolescents. We investigated early life predictors, including birth weight, of adolescent blood pressure in the Gateshead Millennium Study (GMS). The GMS is a cohort of 1029 individuals born in 1999–2000 in Gateshead in Northern England. Throughout infancy and early childhood, detailed information were collected, including birth weight and measures of height and weight. Assessments of 491 returning participants at age 12 years included measures of body mass and blood pressure. Linear regression and path analysis were used to determine predictors and their relative importance on blood pressure. Birth weight was not directly associated with blood pressure at the age of 12. However, after adjustment for contemporaneous body mass index (BMI), an inverse association of standardized birth weight on systolic blood pressure was significant. The relative importance of birth weight on later systolic blood pressure was smaller than other contemporaneous body measures (height and BMI). There was no independent association of birth weight on blood pressure seen in this adolescent population. Contemporaneous body measures have an important role to play. Lifestyle factors that influence body mass or size, such as diet and physical activity, where interventions are directed at early prevention of hypertension should be targeted.

Type
Original Article
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press and the International Society for Developmental Origins of Health and Disease 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Gateshead Millennium Study Core Team: Ashley Adamson, Anne Dale, Robert Drewett, Ann Le Couteur, Paul McArdle, Kathryn Parkinson, Mark Pearce, John Reilly, Charlotte Wright.

References

World Health Organization. Global status report on noncommunicable diseases 2014. WHO Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data. 2014.Google Scholar
Chen, X, Wang, Y. Tracking of blood pressure from childhood to adulthood. A systematic review and meta-regression analysis. Circulation. 2008; 117, 31713180.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Edvardsson, VO, Steinthorsdottir, SD, Eliasdottir, SB, Indridason, OS, Palsson, R. Birth weight and childhood blood pressure. Curr Hypertens Rep. 2012; 14, 596602.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mu, M, Wang, S-F, Sheng, J, et al. Birth weight and subsequent blood pressure: a meta-analysis. Arch Cardiovasc Dis. 2012; 105, 99113.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hardy, R, Wadsworth, MEJ, Langenberg, C, Kuh, D. Birthweight, childhood growth, and blood pressure at 43 years in a British birth cohort. Int J Epidemiol. 2004; 33, 121129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eriksson, J, Forsén, T, Tuomilehto, J, Osmond, C, Barker, D. Fetal and childhood growth and hypertension in adult life. Hypertension. 2000; 36, 790794.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Huxley, RR, Shiell, AW, Law, CM. The role of size at birth and postnatal catch‐up growth in determining systolic blood pressure: a systematic review of the literature. J Hypertens. 2000; 18, 815831.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barker, ME, Thompson, KA, McClean, SI. Attitudinal dimensions of food choice and nutrient intake. Br J Nutr. 1995; 74, 649659.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barker, DJP, Thornburg, KL. Placental programming of chronic diseases, cancer and lifespan: a review. Placenta. 2013; 34, 841845.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Steinthorsdottir, SD, Eliasdottir, SB, Indridason, OS, Palsson, R, Edvardsson, VO. The relationship between birth weight and blood pressure in childhood: a population-based study. Am J Hypertens. 2013; 26, 7682.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Salvi, P, Meriem, C, Temmar, M, et al. Association of current weight and birth weight with blood pressure levels in Saharan and European teenager populations. Am J Hypertens. 2010; 23, 379386.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Huxley, R, Neil, A, Collins, R. Unravelling the fetal origins hypothesis: is there really an inverse association between birthweight and subsequent blood pressure? The Lancet. 2002; 360, 659665.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chiolero, A, Paradis, G, Kaufman, JS. Assessing the possible direct effect of birth weight on childhood blood pressure: a sensitivity analysis. Am J Epidemiol. 2013; 179, 411.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Parkinson, KN, Pearce, MS, Dale, A, et al. Cohort profile: the Gateshead Millennium Study. Int J Epidemiol. 2011; 40, 308317.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wright, CM, Parkinson, KN. Postnatal weight loss in term infants: what is normal and do growth charts allow for it? Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed. 2004; 89, F254F257.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freeman, JV, Cole, TJ, Chinn, S, Jones, PR, White, EM, Preece, MA. Cross sectional stature and weight reference curves for the UK, 1990. Arch Dis Child. 1995; 73, 1724.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Townsend P, Phillimore P, Beattie A. Health and deprivation: inequality and the North: Croom Helm; 1988.Google Scholar
Cole, TJ, Freeman, JV, Preece, MA. Body mass index reference curves for the UK, 1990. Arch Dis Child. 1995; 73, 2529.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Primatesta, P, Falaschetti, E, Poulter, NR. Birth weight and blood pressure in childhood. Results from the Health Survey for England. Hypertension. 2005; 45, 7579.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schack-Nielsen, L, Holst, C, Sorensen, TI. Blood pressure in relation to relative weight at birth through childhood and youth in obese and non-obese adult men. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 2002; 26, 15391546.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Singhal, A, Lucas, A. Early origins of cardiovascular disease: is there a unifying hypothesis? Lancet. 2004; 363, 16421645.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Basterfield, L, Jones, AR, Parkinson, KN, et al. Physical activity, diet and BMI in children aged 6–8 years: a cross-sectional analysis. BMJ Open. 2014; 4, e005001.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mann, KD, Tennant, PWG, Parker, L, Unwin, NC, Pearce, MS. The relatively small contribution of birth weight to blood pressure at age 49–51 years in the Newcastle Thousand Families Study. J Hypertens. 2011; 29, 10771084.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gamborg, M, Andersen, PK, Baker, JL, et al. Life course path analysis of birth weight, childhood growth, and adult systolic blood pressure. Am J Epidemiol. 2009; 169, 11671178.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed