BMJ 1998;317:680 ( 5 September )

Letters

Relation between birth weight and blood pressure is independent of maternal blood pressure

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITORWalker et al conclude that the now well established inverse association between birth weight and blood pressure may in part be explained by hereditary factors.¹ They suggest that low birth weight is a feature of an inherited predisposition to hypertension, perhaps because it is associated with higher maternal blood pressure during pregnancy.

We have examined the influence of maternal blood pressure during pregnancy on the association between birth weight and blood pressure in a study of 8-11 year old children in 10 British towns. ^{2 3} Detailed antenatal and birth records were located for 1573 singleton children born in the town in which blood pressure was later measured; 1494 included blood pressure measurements during pregnancy. Although maternal systolic blood pressures at both 28 weeks' and 36 weeks' gestation were correlated with childhood systolic pressure at 8-11 years (correlation coefficients 0.16 and 0.14 respectively; P<0.0001), neither measure was correlated with birth weight (correlation coefficients 0.01).

We also examined the effect . . . [Full text of this article]

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Inherited predisposition to hypertension confounds the effect of low birthweight

Brian R Walker
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