title: Blood pressure in late adolescence and very low birth weight.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether blood pressure (BP) differed between very low birth weight (VLBW; birth weight <or=1500 g) subjects and normal birth weight (NBW; birth weight >2499 g) subjects in late adolescence, and to determine whether growth restriction in utero was related to BP in VLBW survivors at this age.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a cohort study of 210 preterm survivors with birth weights <1501 g born from January 1, 1977, to March 31, 1982, and 60 randomly selected NBW subjects from the Royal Women's Hospital, Melbourne. BP was measured at 18+ years of age in 156 (74%) VLBW subjects and 38 (63%) NBW subjects with both a standard mercury sphygmomanometer and an ambulatory BP monitor.
  
  
  RESULTS
  VLBW subjects had higher sphygmomanometer systolic and diastolic BPs than NBW subjects (mm Hg; mean difference [95% confidence interval]; systolic, 8.6 [3.4, 13.9]; diastolic, 4.3 [1.0, 7.6]). VLBW subjects also had significantly higher mean systolic ambulatory BPs (mm Hg; mean difference [95% confidence interval]) for the 24-hour period (4.7 [1.4, 8.0]), and for both the awake (5.0 [1.6, 8.5]) and asleep (3.6 [0.04, 7.1]) periods. There were no significant differences between the birth weight groups for any ambulatory diastolic BPs. Within the VLBW subjects, there was no significant relationship between birth weight standard deviation score and any measure of BP.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  BP was significantly higher in late adolescence in VLBW survivors than in NBW subjects. Growth restriction in utero was not significantly related to BP in VLBW survivors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia. lwd@unimelb.edu.au
authors.forename: Lex W
authors.initials: LW
authors.lastname: Doyle
authors.forename: Brenda
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Faber
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Callanan
authors.forename: Ruth
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Morley
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D001795:Blood Pressure Determination / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005317:Fetal Growth Retardation / Q000503:physiopathology; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D019102:Infant, Very Low Birth Weight / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D011262:Pregnancy Trimester, Second; D011263:Pregnancy Trimester, Third; D012737:Sex Factors; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology; D019722:Sphygmomanometers; D013599:Systole / Q000502:physiology