WEIGHTS AT BIRTH AND IN EARLY INFANCY, SYSTOLIC PRESSURE, AND LEFT-VENTRICULAR STRUCTURE IN SUBJECTS AGED 8 TO 24 YEARS

The objective of this study was to determine whether systolic pressure and left ventricular mass in children, adolescents, and young adults are related to fetal and infant growth. Blood pressure measurements an d M-mode echocardiography were performed in 210 subjects aged 8 to 24 years whose information on weights at birth and in early infancy, writ ten by physicians, was obtained from the children's health record book lets. Systolic pressure, adjusted for sex and current height or for se x, current age, weight, and height, was the highest in subjects with l ow birth weight. No association was observed between systolic pressure and weight at either 9 months or 2 years. Left ventricular mass, adju sted for sex and current height or for sex, current age, weight, and h eight, increased with decreasing weight at 9 months or 2 years, indepe ndent of systolic pressure. Increased ventricular mass associated with reduced infant growth was concentric, resulting from a proportionate thickening of the posterior wall and interventricular septum. Left ven tricular mass was not related to birth weight. These findings were obs erved in both sexes and in all age subgroups and were independent of g estational age, birth order, and parental risk factors. This study sup ports the hypothesis that systolic pressure and left ventricular mass might be partly determined during fetal life and early infancy. The me chanisms that underlie the associations of blood pressure and left ven tricular structure with weights at birth and in early infancy should b e studied thoroughly.