Low Birth Weight and Blood Pressure at Age 7–11 Years in a Biracial Sample

• Published in: American journal of epidemiology Vol. 145; no. 5; pp. 387 - 397
• Main Authors: Donker, Gé A., Labarthe, Darwin R., Harrist, Ronald B., Selwyn, Beatnce J., Wattigney, Wendy, Berenson, Gerald S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cary, NC Oxford University Press 01-03-1997
• Subjects: African Americans; Arterial hypertension. Arterial hypotension; Biological and medical sciences; birth weight; blacks; Blood and lymphatic vessels; blood pressure; Blood Pressure - physiology; Cardiology. Vascular system; Chi-Square Distribution; Child; Clinical manifestations. Epidemiology. Investigative techniques. Etiology; Cohort Studies; Confidence Intervals; Cross-Sectional Studies; European Continental Ancestry Group; Female; Humans; Infant, Low Birth Weight - physiology; Infant, Newborn; Louisiana; Male; Medical sciences; Multivariate Analysis; Prevalence; Risk Factors; Sex Distribution; whites; United States; North America; America; Louisiana; Human; Pregnancy disorders; Low birth weight; Epidemiology; Ethnic group; Newborn diseases; Prematurity; Risk factor; Arterial pressure; Circulatory system; Hemodynamics; Black American; Child; Comparative study; Public health
• ISSN: 0002-9262; 1476-6256
• DOI: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a009120

The hypothesis that birth weight predicts blood pressure inversely at age 7 through 11 years was examined in 1, 446 white children and black children in Washington Pansh, Louisiana. Two data sets of the Bogalusa Heart Study were merged: 1) newborn cohort participants (n = 233), initially examined at birth, 1973–1974, and reexamined in 1984–1985 at ages 9 through 11 years; and 2) subjects examined at ages 7 through 11 years in 1987–1988 (n = 1, 213) whose birth weight was collected from birth certificates in 1991. The prevalence ratios for being in the race-, sex-, and age-specific upper decile of diastolic blood pressure in children born with low birth weight (±2, 500 g) versus those with birth weight > 2, 500 g were 0.85 (95% confidence interval 0.28–2.56) for white boys, 2.66 (95% confidence interval 1.24–5.70, p ± 0.05) for black boys, 1.38 (95% confidence interval 0.63–3.03) for white girls, and 1.05 (95% confidence interval 0.40–2.75) for black girls. For systolic blood pressure, the corresponding prevalence ratio for each race-sex group did not differ from one. When the analyses were restncted to full-term births, prevalence ratios in any race-sex group did not differ from one for systolic and diastolic blood pressure. In multiple linear regression analyses, the concurrently determined Quetelet index (p ± 0.001) was a much stronger correlate of systolic and diastolic blood pressure after appropriate adjustment than was birth weight (p > 0.05). From this study, there is some evidence that low birth weight may determine a risk for subsequent high blood pressure in black boys in the age group 7 through 11 years, but the inconsistency of the results for other race-sex groups was unexpected and remains unexplained, if the underlying hypothesis is true. Am J Epidemiol 1997; 145: 387-97.