Fetal growth and urinary albumin excretion among middle-aged Danes

Objective: Impaired fetal growth has been linked with cardiovascular diseas e and different cardiovascular risk factors. Few studies have examined the association between fetal growth and urinary albumin excretion, an importan t predictor of vascular disease in both diabetic and non-diabetic subjects. Material and methods: We examined the association between markers of fetal growth, ic. birth weight, birth length and Ponderal Index, from birth recor ds and urinary albumin excretion in 545 middle-aged men and women who had t aken part in a population-based follow-up study in the municipality of Ebel toft, Denmark. The outcome was the urinary albumin-creatinine ratio. Results: Three men (1.1%) and 10 women (3.6%) had a albumin-creatinine rati o above 2.5/3.5 mg/mmol, which is considered abnormal and diagnostic of mic roalbuminuria. The strength of the associations between birth weight, birth length, Ponderal Index and albumin-creatinine ratio were fitted in separat e multivariate models, but no associations were found in any model. Conclusions: Our study did not support the hypothesis of an association bet ween fetal growth and adult albumin-creatinine ratio. Studies with larger n umbers of microalbuminuric subjects are required in order to further clarif y the relationship between fetal growth and later renal function.