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Placental weight, birth measurements, and blood pressure at age 8 years
V M Moore1, A G Miller, T J Boulton
1Department of Community Medicine, University of Adelaide, South Australia.
Insights
Birth characteristics like placental weight and birth size influence childhood blood pressure. Higher placental weight and lower birth weight were linked to elevated blood pressure in 8-year-old Australian children.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Health
- Cardiovascular Epidemiology
- Perinatal Studies
Background:
- Fetal growth patterns are increasingly recognized as potential determinants of later-life health.
- Understanding early life influences on blood pressure is crucial for cardiovascular disease prevention.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between birth characteristics (placental weight, birth size) and blood pressure in childhood.
- To explore relationships in an Australian birth cohort.
Main Methods:
- A longitudinal follow-up study of 830 children born in Adelaide, South Australia.
- Blood pressure (systolic and diastolic) was measured at 8 years of age.
- Analysis adjusted for current weight and examined relationships with birth weight and placental weight.
Main Results:
- Childhood blood pressure showed a positive association with placental weight.
- An inverse relationship was observed between blood pressure and birth weight.
- Diastolic pressure decreased with increasing birth weight and increased with placental weight, independent of current weight.
Conclusions:
- Birth characteristics reflecting fetal growth are associated with blood pressure in later childhood.
- These findings support the concept of developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD).
- Early life factors play a significant role in establishing cardiovascular risk profiles.
Objective:
To examine relationships between blood pressure during childhood and both placental weight and body size at birth, in an Australian population.
Design:
A follow up study of a birth cohort, undertaken when cohort members were aged 8 years.
Setting:
Adelaide, South Australia.
Subjects:
830 children born in the Queen Victoria Hospital in Adelaide, South Australia, during 1975-6.
Main Outcome Measures:
Systolic and diastolic blood pressure measured when the children were aged 8 years.
Results:
Blood pressure at 8 years was positively related to placental weight and inversely related to birth weight, after adjusting for the child's current weight. For diastolic pressure there was a decrease of 1.0 mm Hg for each 1 kg increase in birth weight (95% confidence interval (CI) = -0.4 to 2.4) and an increase of 0.7 mm Hg for each 100 g increase in placental weight (95% CI = 0.1 to 1.3). Diastolic pressure was also inversely related to chest circumference at birth, independently of placental weight, with a decrease of 0.3 mm Hg for each 1 cm increase in chest circumference (95% CI = 0.2 to 0.5).
Conclusions:
These findings are further evidence that birth characteristics, indicative of fetal growth patterns, are related to blood pressure in later life.
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