Size at Birth, Weight Gain in Infancy and Childhood, and Adult Blood Pressure in 5 Low- and Middle- Income-Country Cohorts: When Does Weight Gain Matter? [Open Access]

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Citation

Adair, Linda S.; Martorell, Reynaldo; Stein, Aryeh D.; Hallal, Pedro C.; Sachdev, Harshpal Singh; Prabhakaran, Dorairaj; Wills, Andrew K.; Norris, Shane A.; Dahly, Darren L.; & Lee, Nanette R., et al. (2009). Size at Birth, Weight Gain in Infancy and Childhood, and Adult Blood Pressure in 5 Low- and Middle- Income-Country Cohorts: When Does Weight Gain Matter? [Open Access]. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 89(5), 1383-1392. PMCID: PMC2720838

Abstract

Background: Promoting catch-up growth in malnourished children has health benefits, but recent evidence suggests that accelerated child weight gain increases adult chronic disease risk.
Objective: We aimed to determine how birth weight (BW) and weight gain to midchildhood relate to blood pressure (BP) in young adults.
Design: We pooled data from birth cohorts in Brazil, Guatemala, India, the Philippines, and South Africa. We used conditional weight (CW), a residual of current weight regressed on prior weights, to represent deviations from expected weight gain from 0 to 12, 12 to 24, 24 to 48 mo, and 48 mo to adulthood. Adult BP and risk of prehypertension or hypertension (P/HTN) were modeled before and after adjustment for adult body mass index (BMI) and height. Interactions of CWs with small size-for-gestational age (SGA) at birth were tested.
Results: Higher CWs were associated with increased BP and odds of P/HTN, with coefficients proportional to the contribution of each CW to adult BMI. Adjusted for adult height and BMI, no child CW was associated with adult BP, but 1 SD of BW was related to a 0.5-mm Hg lower systolic BP and a 9% lower odds of P/HTN. BW and CW associations with systolic BP and P/HTN were not different between adults born SGA and those with normal BW, but higher CW at 48 mo was associated with higher diastolic BP in those born SGA.
Conclusions: Greater weight gain at any age relates to elevated adult BP, but faster weight gains in infancy and young childhood do not pose a higher risk than do gains at other ages.

URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.2008.27139

Reference Type

Journal Article

Year Published

2009

Journal Title

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

Author(s)

Adair, Linda S.
Martorell, Reynaldo
Stein, Aryeh D.
Hallal, Pedro C.
Sachdev, Harshpal Singh
Prabhakaran, Dorairaj
Wills, Andrew K.
Norris, Shane A.
Dahly, Darren L.
Lee, Nanette R.
Victora, Cesar G., on behalf of the COHORTS Group

PMCID

PMC2720838

ORCiD

Adair - 0000-0002-3670-8073
Dahly - 0000-0003-0110-324X