Association of diarrhoea, poor hygiene and poor social conditions in childhood with blood pressure in adulthood.
BACKGROUND
Previous research has suggested that dehydration in infancy may lead to high blood pressure in later life because of sodium retention. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of poor hygiene of the child, poor social and poor housing conditions at home and diarrhoea in childhood as proxies for dehydration on high blood pressure in later life.


METHODS
Data were from a subset of participants in the Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study, a population-based cohort study in eastern Finland. Information on childhood factors was collected from school health records (n=952), from the 1930s to the 1950s. Adult data were obtained from baseline examinations of the Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study cohort (n=2682) in 1984-1989.


RESULTS
Men who had poor hygiene in childhood had on average 4.07 mm Hg (95% CI 0.53 to 7.61) higher systolic blood pressure than men who had good or satisfactory hygiene in childhood in the age-adjusted analysis. Reports of diarrhoea were not associated with adult blood pressure.


CONCLUSIONS
The authors' findings suggest that poor hygiene and living in poor social conditions in childhood are associated with higher systolic blood pressure in adulthood. Reported childhood diarrhoea did not explain the link between hygiene and high blood pressure in adulthood.
Kauhanen
L
L
Department of Public Health, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio Campus, Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, PO Box 1627, FI-70211 Kuopio, Finland. laura.kauhanen@uef.fi
Lynch
J W
JW
Lakka
H-M
HM
Kauhanen
J
J
Smith
G D
GD
D000328:Adult; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015986:Confounding Factors, Epidemiologic; D003681:Dehydration / Q000150:complications; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000150:complications*; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D006235:Hand Disinfection / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D006920:Hygiene / Q000592:standards*; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013997:Time Factors