Catch-up growth in childhood is linked with increased risk of coronary heart disease

Men who had low birth weight or were thin at birth have high death rates from coronary heart disease. This is thought to reflect the long term consequences of fetal undernutrition. It is not yet known whether an increased risk of coronary heart disease acquired in utero is modified by growth in childhood. In a study of men born in Helsinki during 1924-33, Eriksson et al (p 427) found the highest death rates from the disease among those who were thin at birth but whose weight "caught up" in early childhood. Death from coronary heart disease may therefore be a consequence of poor prenatal undernutrition followed by improved postnatal nutrition.


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