Is fetal macrosomia related to blood pressure among adolescents? A birth cohort study in China

Abstract

Birth weight (BW) has effects on blood pressure (BP). In order to explore the effects of macrosomia on BP in childhood and in adolescence, a longitudinal cohort study was conducted in Wuxi, China. Subjects with BW >=4000 g, born in 1993–1995, were the exposed group; the unexposed comparisons were matched by year of birth and sex of infant, with BW of 2500–4000 g. Follow-ups in 2005–6 and 2011–12 were conducted, and height, weight and BP were measured by trained doctors. Multi-mixed models in SAS were used to control for repeated measures to explore the effects of fetal macrosomia on BP. At the inception of the cohort, 1595 pairs of participants were recruited. At the end, 1112 in the exposed group and 1126 in the unexposed group finished both follow-ups. Among adolescents, mean (s.d.) of systolic BP (SBP) was 110.83 (9.43)mmHg, which was statistically significantly higher than that in the unexposed group (mean±s.d.: 109.33±9.26)mmHg (P=0.0002). After adjusting the repeated measures and birth year, sex, mother’s occupation and delivery age, adding weight during pregnancy, hypertension during delivery, gestational age and parity, being a picky eater in childhood, the macrosomia group had higher SBP than the normal BW group; the parameter estimate value was 1.03 (s.e.=0.30). When BMI in childhood and BMI in adolescence were added in the multi-model, the estimated β was 0.71 (s.e.=0.29). No statistically significant effect of macrosomia was found on diastolic BP among adolescents in the multianalysis.