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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Low birthweight and a lower socioeconomic class during childhood are associated with increased blood pressures during adulthood, according to a report published in the October 11th issue of The Lancet.



The new findings are in agreement with previous reports showing an inverse link between birthweight and adult blood pressure. However, contrary to some reports, there was no evidence that the elevated adult blood pressures increased with age.

The results are based on a cohort study of 3,634 people who were born in the UK in 1946. The subjects were contacted regularly since birth and had their blood pressures recorded at 36, 43, and 53 years old.

Birthweight was inversely related to systolic blood pressure from age 36 to 53 years, lead author Dr. Rebecca Hardy, from the Royal Free and University College Medical School, London, and colleagues note. In contrast, birthweight was not predictive of adult diastolic blood pressure.

Lower socioeconomic class during childhood was tied to higher systolic and diastolic blood pressures in adulthood. Although the effect on systolic blood pressure seemed to rise with age, this was largely due to the current body-mass index, which became an increasingly strong predictor of blood pressure.

"These findings suggest that weight control throughout life is key to prevention of raised blood pressure during middle age," the researchers note. "Understanding the link between early childhood socioeconomic environment and adult obesity could make this strategy more effective," they add.

Lancet 2003;362:1178-1183.