title: Relation of Birth Weight to Heart Rate in Childhood, Adolescence, and Adulthood (from the Bogalusa Heart Study).
abstract: Low birth weight is associated with cardiovascular disease and its risk factors in adulthood. However, information is limited regarding its impact on heart rate (HR), an established risk factor for cardiovascular disease. This study assessed the hypothesis that birth weight is associated with HR at rest at different ages. The study sample consisted of 6,282 black and white participants enrolled in the Bogalusa Heart Study, aged 4 to 52 years with a mean age of 19.4 years. HR data at rest were available in 2,344 children (4 to 11 years old), 1,622 adolescents (12 to 19 years old), and 2,316 adults (20 to 52 years old). Birth certificate records, including information on birth weight and gestational age, were obtained from the Louisiana State Office of Public Health. HR showed a significant decreasing trend with increasing age, with blacks having a lower slope than whites. In multivariable linear regression analyses, adjusted for age, race, gender, body mass index, and gestational age, the association between lower birth weight (kg) and increased HR (beats/min) was significant in adults (regression coefficient, β = -1.21, p = 0.006) but not significant in children (β = -0.31, p = 0.461) and adolescents (β = -0.72, p = 0.157). The association did not differ significantly between races. The birth weight-HR association did not change markedly in the models without adjustment for body mass index. In conclusion, these results suggest that the association of prenatal growth retardation with increased cardiovascular disease risk in later life might be partly through its relation with HR at rest.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana.
authors.forename: Yingxiao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hua
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana.
authors.forename: Fu
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana; Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Shandong University, Jinan, China.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana; Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, The First Hospital of Xiamen, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China.
authors.forename: Huijie
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana.
authors.forename: Camilo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fernandez
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana.
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Harville
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana.
authors.forename: Lydia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bazzano
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana.
authors.forename: Jiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana. Electronic address: sli10@tulane.edu.
authors.forename: Shengxu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D001724:Birth Weight; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D016014:Linear Models; D008145:Louisiana; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D044465:White People; D055815:Young Adult