Size at birth, obesity and blood pressure at age five.
BACKGROUND
The fetal origins hypothesis indicates that morphometric evidence of fetal nutritional deprivation is predictive of excessive weight gain/obesity, insulin resistance, and cardiovascular disease after birth. However, it is unclear whether these effects are present in offspring with "normal" birth weights in contemporary Western society, whether they are population specific, and how early in life they appear. This study was designed to examine these questions in a select populace of morphometrically diverse offspring to test the null hypothesis that morphometric evidence of nutritional restriction in utero has no effect on the presence of either obesity or increased blood pressure at ages 5 and 6.


METHODS
We present a prospective study of 101 offspring born of well-nourished, middle and upper socioeconomic-class women who participated in studies of diet and exercise during pregnancy. At birth and age 5 to 6 the offspring underwent morphometric evaluation with the additional measurement of blood pressure at age 5 to 6.


RESULTS
There were no significant negative correlations between neonatal morphometrics and either blood pressure or obesity at age 5 to 6. There were, however, direct positive correlations between birth weight and both weight and BMI at age 5 to 6 (p < 0.0001).


CONCLUSIONS
In this specific populace, morphometrics at age 5 to 6 correlated with size at birth. However, there was no relationship between mophometric evidence of in utero nutritional deprivation at birth and either blood pressure or obesity at age 5 to 6.
Clapp Iii
James F
JF
The Departments of Reproductive Biology and Obstetrics and Gynecology and The Schwartz Center for Metabolism and Nutrition at The MetroHealth Campus of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio., The Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Vermont College of Medicine Burlington, Vermont.
Lopez
Beth
B