Blood pressure in prospective population based cohort of newborn and infant twins.
OBJECTIVE
To describe blood pressure in twins during infancy.


METHODS
Prospective study of cohort of twins.


METHODS
Teaching hospital in Florida.


METHODS
166 viable twin pairs born between July 1976 and December 1989.


METHODS
Blood pressure and body weight at birth, at 14 days, and at 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months.


RESULTS
Both systolic and diastolic pressure correlated with body weight throughout infancy (at birth r = 0.41, P < 0.001 and r = 0.42, P < 0.001 respectively; at 1 year r = 0.23, P < 0.001 and r = 0.26, P < 0.001 respectively). In infants weighing < 1500 g at birth mean blood pressure rose from about 45/25 mm Hg to 101/55 mm Hg from birth to the age of 1 year, while in infants weighing > 3000 g at birth it rose from 63/39 mm Hg to 100/61 mm Hg; corresponding mean body weights at 1 year were 7.86 kg and 9.88 kg. Differences in birth weight within pairs of monozygotic twins were negatively correlated with such differences in systolic blood pressure at 1 year (r = -0.37, P < 0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
Blood pressure and body weights in twins showed strongly positive but generally declining correlations throughout infancy. Twins of lower birth weight showed a more rapid rate of rise in blood pressure during infancy. At 1 year the catch up in blood pressure exceeded that in body weight. Greater differences in birth weights between monozygotic twins were associated with smaller differences in systolic blood pressure at 1 year, suggesting that intrauterine environmental factors related to birth weight are important in determining blood pressure in infancy.
Levine
R S
RS
Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, Meharry Medical College, Nashville, TN 37208.
Hennekens
C H
CH
Jesse
M J
MJ
D001724:Birth Weight; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D001835:Body Weight; D002657:Child Development; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005431:Florida / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012737:Sex Factors; D014427:Twins