Twins challenge the fetal origins hypothesis

The fetal origins hypothesis maintains that poor nutrition in utero leads to high blood pressure in later life. Looking at a birth cohort from 1972-3, Williams and Poulton (p 897) found that twins had a lower mean systolic blood pressure than singletons at age 9 and 18. As twins also had a lower mean birth weight and had experienced a period of restricted fetal growth, this finding challenges the fetal origins hypothesis. The children of mothers who smoked in pregnancy, on the other hand, had a lower mean birth weight and a higher mean blood pressure at both ages, a finding consistent with the fetal origins hypothesis. Birth weight had a relatively small effect on later blood pressure when its indirect effects through current height and body mass index were taken into account.

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Relevant Article

Twins and maternal smoking: ordeals for the fetal origins hypothesis? A cohort study

Sheila Williams and Richie Poulton
BMJ 1999 318: 897. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]