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. 1996 Jun;74(6):538-41.
doi: 10.1136/adc.74.6.538.

Placental weight, birth measurements, and blood pressure at age 8 years

V M Moore  1 , A G Miller, T J Boulton, R A Cockington, I H Craig, A M Magarey, J S Robinson
Affiliations

Placental weight, birth measurements, and blood pressure at age 8 years

V M Moore et al. Arch Dis Child. 1996 Jun.

Abstract

Objective: To examine relationships between blood pressure during childhood and both placental weight and body size at birth, in an Australian population.

Design: A follow up study of a birth cohort, undertaken when cohort members were aged 8 years.

Setting: Adelaide, South Australia.

Subjects: 830 children born in the Queen Victoria Hospital in Adelaide, South Australia, during 1975-6.

Main outcome measures: Systolic and diastolic blood pressure measured when the children were aged 8 years.

Results: Blood pressure at 8 years was positively related to placental weight and inversely related to birth weight, after adjusting for the child's current weight. For diastolic pressure there was a decrease of 1.0 mm Hg for each 1 kg increase in birth weight (95% confidence interval (CI) = -0.4 to 2.4) and an increase of 0.7 mm Hg for each 100 g increase in placental weight (95% CI = 0.1 to 1.3). Diastolic pressure was also inversely related to chest circumference at birth, independently of placental weight, with a decrease of 0.3 mm Hg for each 1 cm increase in chest circumference (95% CI = 0.2 to 0.5).

Conclusions: These findings are further evidence that birth characteristics, indicative of fetal growth patterns, are related to blood pressure in later life.

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