Beyond birth-weight: Early growth and adolescent blood pressure in a Peruvian population

Robie Sterling, William Checkley, Robert H. Gilman, Lilia Cabrera, Charles R. Sterling, Caryn Bern, J. Jaime Miranda

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background. Longitudinal investigations into the origins of adult essential hypertension have found elevated blood pressure in children to accurately track into adulthood, however the direct causes of essential hypertension in adolescence and adulthood remains unclear. Methods. We revisited 152 Peruvian adolescents from a birth cohort tracked from 0 to 30 months of age, and evaluated growth via monthly anthropometric measurements between 1995 and 1998, and obtained anthropometric and blood pressure measurements 11-14 years later. We used multivariable regression models to study the effects of infantile and childhood growth trends on blood pressure and central obesity in early adolescence. Results. In regression models adjusted for interim changes in weight and height, each 0.1 SD increase in weight for length from 0 to 5 months of age, and 1 SD increase from 6 to 30 months of age, was associated with decreased adolescent systolic blood pressure by 1.3 mm Hg (95% CI-2.4 to-0.1) and 2.5 mm Hg (95% CI-4.9 to 0.0), and decreased waist circumference by 0.6 (95% CI-1.1 to 0.0) and 1.2 cm (95% CI-2.3 to-0.1), respectively. Growth in infancy and early childhood was not significantly associated with adolescent waist-to-hip ratio. Conclusions. Rapid compensatory growth in early life has been posited to increase the risk of long-term cardiovascular morbidities such that nutritional interventions may do more harm than good. However, we found increased weight growth during infancy and early childhood to be associated with decreased systolic blood pressure and central adiposity in adolescence.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article numbere381
JournalPeerJ
Volume2014
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 2014

Keywords

  • Blood pressure
  • Child development
  • Cohort studies
  • Developmental origins
  • Growth and development
  • Hypertension
  • Lifecourse
  • Obesity
  • Peru

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Neuroscience
  • General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
  • General Agricultural and Biological Sciences

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