Date: October 2008

Summary: Infants who gain weight rapidly in the first five months of life are more likely to have high blood pressure in young adulthood, said researchers who monitored the growth and blood pressure of 679 subjects from birth until age 5 and then later in young adulthood. They found that rapid growth in the first months of life contributes to increased blood pressure later on.

Journal: Hypertension

Journal citation: Hypertension. 2008;52:1-7

Read the original article: http://hyper.ahajournals.org/cgi/reprint/52/4/638

Why it’s important: Many studies have shown some connection between fetal growth and certain diseases in adulthood, such as high blood pressure. Birth weight and growth rate after birth are also believed to affect blood pressure later in life. However, while many studies track blood pressure in patients and compare it to birth weight, no previous studies have analyzed growth rates after birth and blood pressure in adulthood.

What’s already known: Although many people in the medical community believe fetal development is crucial in the development of certain adult diseases such as chronic high blood pressure, other studies have shown that weight at birth may not be as important as rapid “catch-up” growth after birth.

How this study was done: A total of 1,163 mothers in South Wales, England, were recruited between 1972 and 1974 to take part in a study on infant growth. The mothers received milk tokens to ensure that they followed similar diets during pregnancy and that the children received similar nutrition during the course of the study. After birth, the children were visited at 10 days, six weeks and at three, six and nine months of age. The families received follow-up visits every six months until the children reached age 5. (Only 951 of the children continued with the study through age 5.) During these visits, nurses measured height and weight as well as other vital statistics such as blood pressure. In a follow-up study, 679 of the 951 children who were part of the study agreed to come back as adults. These participants answered questions about their lifestyles, such as whether they smoked and the quality of their diet. Researchers measured height and weight as well as blood pressure. These data were then compared statistically to determine whether there was a connection between growth immediately after birth and blood pressure in adulthood.

What was found: The researchers found that children who gained weight more rapidly in the first five to six months of life were more likely to have a higher blood pressure than children who grew normally during that period. They also found that rapid growth between 21 months of age and age 5 appeared to be associated with an increase in systolic blood pressure in young adulthood. 

“From a public health perspective, the results are important. If children put on more postnatal weight today than they did in the past, then we could better predict that the burden of high blood pressure will increase in the future. Hypertension, in turn, is associated with an increased risk of heart disease and stroke,” said Yoav Ben-Shlomo, M.D., lead author of the study.

“It is more important to ensure children eat a healthy diet, without too much processed food and high-salt snacks, and encourage your children to be involved in regular exercise so that they establish sensible habits that they can maintain into their adult lives” than to be overly concerned with their growth as babies, Ben-Shlomo added.

The bottom line: Children who grow more rapidly than their peers in the first few months of life may be at a higher risk for high blood pressure in young adulthood.



This content is reviewed regularly. Last updated 10/27/08.