Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1999 Feb 13;318(7181):427-31.
doi: 10.1136/bmj.318.7181.427.

Catch-up growth in childhood and death from coronary heart disease: longitudinal study

J G Eriksson  1 , T Forsén, J Tuomilehto, P D Winter, C Osmond, D J Barker
Affiliations

Catch-up growth in childhood and death from coronary heart disease: longitudinal study

J G Eriksson et al. BMJ. .

Abstract

Objective: To examine whether catch-up growth during childhood modifies the increased risk of death from coronary heart disease that is associated with reduced intrauterine growth.

Design: Follow up study of men whose body size at birth was recorded and who had an average of 10 measurements taken of their height and weight through childhood.

Setting: Helsinki, Finland.

Subjects: 3641 men who were born in Helsinki University Central Hospital during 1924-33 and who went to school in Helsinki.

Main outcome measures: Hazard ratios for death from coronary heart disease.

Results: Death from coronary heart disease was associated with low birth weight and, more strongly, with a low ponderal index at birth. Men who died from coronary heart disease had an above average body mass index at all ages from 7 to 15 years. In a simultaneous regression the hazard ratio for death from the disease increased by 14% (95% confidence interval 8% to 19%; P<0.0001) for each unit (kg/m3) decrease in ponderal index at birth and by 22% (10% to 36%; P=0.0001) for each unit (kg/m2) increase in body mass index at 11 years of age. Body mass index in childhood was strongly related to maternal body mass index, which in turn was related to coronary heart disease. The extent of crowding in the home during childhood, although related to body mass index in childhood, was not related to later coronary heart disease.

Conclusion: The highest death rates from coronary heart disease occurred in boys who were thin at birth but whose weight caught up so that they had an average or above average body mass from the age of 7 years. Death from coronary heart disease may be a consequence of poor prenatal nutrition followed by improved postnatal nutrition.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Body mass index during childhood in men who later died from coronary heart disease compared and centiles for body mass index of all men in cohort (n=3641)
Figure 2
Figure 2
Hazard ratios for death from coronary heart disease according to ponderal index at birth and body mass index at age 11 years, adjusted for length of gestation. Arrows indicate average values
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Barker DJP, Osmond C, Winter PD, Margetts B, Simmonds SJ. Weight in infancy and death from ischaemic heart disease. Lancet. 1989;2:577–580. - PubMed
    1. Martyn CN, Barker DJP, Osmond C. Mothers’ pelvic size, fetal growth, and death from stroke and coronary heart disease in men in the UK. Lancet. 1996;348:1264–1268. - PubMed
    1. Hales CN, Barker DJP, Clark PMS, Cox LJ, Fall C, Osmond C, et al. Fetal and infant growth and impaired glucose tolerance at age 64. BMJ. 1991;303:1019–1022. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Barker DJP. Fetal origins of coronary heart disease. BMJ. 1995;311:171–174. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Leon DA, Lithell H, Vagero D, McKeigue P, Koupilova I, Mohsen R, et al. Reduced fetal growth rate and increased risk of death from ischaemic heart disease: cohort study of 15000 Swedish men and women born 1915-29. BMJ. 1998;317:241–245. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms