Early life diarrhoea and later blood pressure in a developing country: the 1982 Pelotas (Brazil) birth cohort study.
BACKGROUND
It has recently been hypothesised that acute dehydration in early childhood may "programme" increased blood pressure via salt retention. We examined whether there was an association between episodes of diarrhoea (a proxy for acute dehydration) and later measured blood pressure.


METHODS
In the 1982 Pelotas birth cohort study (Brazil), parents/carers reported hospital admissions for diarrhoea in the first 12 and 20 months of study members' lives. Blood pressure was subsequently measured directly in adolescence (aged 15, 18, 19 years) and early adulthood (aged 23 years).


RESULTS
We found no evidence of an association between diarrhoea in the first 12 months of life and blood pressure measured at any point in adolescence or early adulthood. These findings were unchanged after adjustment for a range of covariates. Equally null results were apparent when diarrhoea admissions in the first 20 months of life, access to home sanitation and use of piped water were the exposures of interest.


CONCLUSIONS
Early life proxies for dehydration and diarrhoea were unrelated to later blood pressure in this examination, the most comprehensive to date, of the potential association.
Batty
G D
GD
MRC Social & Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow, 4 Lilybank Gardens, Glasgow G12 8RZ, UK. david-b@sphsu.mrc.ac.uk
Horta
B L
BL
Smith
G Davey
GD
Barros
F C
FC
Victora
C
C
D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D001938:Brazil; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003906:Developing Countries; D003968:Diarrhea, Infantile / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male
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