title: Birth weight and adult hypertension: cross-sectional study in a Japanese workplace population.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Low birth weight has been associated with adult hypertension in several Western populations. This association needs to be evaluated in Japanese people.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A population-based cross-sectional study of 3,107 subjects (2,303 males and 804 females) aged 35-66 years was conducted. The participants responded to a questionnaire about their birth weights, blood pressure, medical history, parental history, and lifestyle factors. Hypertension was defined as systolic blood pressure > or =140 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure > or =90 mmHg and/or under treatment by anti-hypertensives. Multiple logistic regression analysis adjusted for age, sex, body mass index, parental history, and lifestyle revealed the adjusted odds ratios for hypertension were 1.26 (95% confidence interval: 0.88-1.80), 1.00 (reference), 0.89 (0.73-1.08) and 0.70 (0.49-1.00) in subjects in birth weight categories of <2,500 g, 2,500-<3,000 g, 3,000-<3,500 g, 3,500- g, respectively (p-value for trend =0.009). Furthermore, this inverse association was clearly pronounced in normal-weight subjects.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Low birth weight was independently associated with adult hypertension in the Japanese workplace population. Our results support the inverse association observed previously in Western populations and suggest that intrauterine environmental insults might lead to permanent changes in the metabolism and structure of the fetal organs influencing the regulation of blood pressure.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health/Health Information Dynamics, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan. tamako@med.nagoya-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tamakoshi
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yatsuya
authors.forename: Keiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wada
authors.forename: Kunihiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Matsushita
authors.forename: Rei
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Otsuka
authors.forename: Pei Ou
authors.initials: PO
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Kaichiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sugiura
authors.forename: Yo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hotta
authors.forename: Hirotsugu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mitsuhashi
authors.forename: Takaaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kondo
authors.forename: Hideaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Toyoshima
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D002561:Cerebrovascular Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000503:physiopathology*; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight / Q000502:physiology*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007236:Infant, Small for Gestational Age / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D044382:Population Groups; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires