Low birth weight and blood pressure at age 7-11 years in a biracial sample.
The hypothesis that birth weight predicts blood pressure inversely at age 7 through 11 years was examined in 1,446 white children and black children in Washington Parish, Louisiana. Two data sets of the Bogalusa Heart Study were merged: 1) newborn cohort participants (n = 233), initially examined at birth, 1973-1974, and reexamined in 1984-1985 at ages 9 through 11 years; and 2) subjects examined at ages 7 through 11 years in 1987-1988 (n = 1,213) whose birth weight was collected from birth certificates in 1991. The prevalence ratios for being in the race-, sex-, and age-specific upper decile of diastolic blood pressure in children born with low birth weight (< 2,500 g) versus those with birth weight > or = 2,500 g were 0.85 (95% confidence interval 0.28-2.56) for white boys, 2.66 (95% confidence interval 1.24-5.70, p < 0.05) for black boys, 1.38 (95% confidence interval 0.63-3.03) for white girls, and 1.05 (95% confidence interval 0.40-2.75) for black girls. For systolic blood pressure, the corresponding prevalence ratio for each race-sex group did not differ from one. When the analyses were restricted to full-term births, prevalence ratios in any race-sex group did not differ from one for systolic and diastolic blood pressure. In multiple linear regression analyses, the concurrently determined Quetelet index (p < 0.001) was a much stronger correlate of systolic and diastolic blood pressure after appropriate adjustment than was birth weight (p > 0.05). From this study, there is some evidence that low birth weight may determine a risk for subsequent high blood pressure in black boys in the age group 7 through 11 years, but the inconsistency of the results for other race-sex groups was unexpected and remains unexplained, if the underlying hypothesis is true.
Donker
G A
GA
Epidemiology Research Center, School of Public Health, University of Texas Houston Health Science Center, USA.
Labarthe
D R
DR
Harrist
R B
RB
Selwyn
B J
BJ
Wattigney
W
W
Berenson
G S
GS
D001741:Black or African American; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight / Q000502:physiology*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008145:Louisiana; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D017678:Sex Distribution; D044465:White People