Skip to main content
PMC home page
The BMJ logoLink to The BMJ
. 1995 Feb 18;310(6977):428–432. doi: 10.1136/bmj.310.6977.428

Fetal and infant growth and cardiovascular risk factors in women.

C H Fall 1, C Osmond 1, D J Barker 1, P M Clark 1, C N Hales 1, Y Stirling 1, T W Meade 1
PMCID: PMC2548816  PMID: 7873947

Abstract

OBJECTIVE--To examine whether cardiovascular risk factors in women are related to fetal and infant growth. DESIGN--Follow up study of women born 1923-30 whose birth weights and weights at one year were recorded. SETTING--Hertfordshire. SUBJECTS--297 women born and still living in East Hertfordshire. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES--Plasma glucose and insulin concentrations during a standard oral glucose tolerance test; fasting plasma proinsulin and 32-33 split proinsulin concentrations; blood pressure; fasting serum total, low density lipoprotein and high density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglyceride, and apolipoprotein A I and B concentrations; and plasma fibrinogen and factor VII concentrations. RESULTS--Fasting plasma concentrations of glucose, insulin, and 32-33 split proinsulin fell with increasing birth weight (P = 0.04, P = 0.002, and P = 0.0002 respectively, when current body mass index was allowed for). Glucose and insulin concentrations 120 minutes after an oral glucose load showed similar trends (P = 0.03 and P = 0.02). Systolic blood pressure, waist:hip ratio, and serum triglyceride concentrations also fell with increasing birth weight (P = 0.08, P = 0.07, and P = 0.07 respectively), while serum high density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations rose (P = 0.04). At each birth weight women who currently had a higher body mass index had higher levels of risk factors. CONCLUSION--In women, as in men, reduced fetal growth leads to insulin resistance and the associated disorders: raised blood pressure and high serum triglyceride and low serum high density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations. The highest values of these coronary risk factors occur in people who were small at birth and became obese. In contrast with men, low rates of infant growth did not predict levels of risk factors in women.

Full text

PDF
428

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Barker D. J., Bull A. R., Osmond C., Simmonds S. J. Fetal and placental size and risk of hypertension in adult life. BMJ. 1990 Aug 4;301(6746):259–262. doi: 10.1136/bmj.301.6746.259. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Barker D. J., Gluckman P. D., Godfrey K. M., Harding J. E., Owens J. A., Robinson J. S. Fetal nutrition and cardiovascular disease in adult life. Lancet. 1993 Apr 10;341(8850):938–941. doi: 10.1016/0140-6736(93)91224-a. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Barker D. J., Hales C. N., Fall C. H., Osmond C., Phipps K., Clark P. M. Type 2 (non-insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus, hypertension and hyperlipidaemia (syndrome X): relation to reduced fetal growth. Diabetologia. 1993 Jan;36(1):62–67. doi: 10.1007/BF00399095. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Barker D. J., Osmond C., Golding J., Kuh D., Wadsworth M. E. Growth in utero, blood pressure in childhood and adult life, and mortality from cardiovascular disease. BMJ. 1989 Mar 4;298(6673):564–567. doi: 10.1136/bmj.298.6673.564. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Ben-Shlomo Y., Smith G. D. Deprivation in infancy or in adult life: which is more important for mortality risk? Lancet. 1991 Mar 2;337(8740):530–534. doi: 10.1016/0140-6736(91)91307-g. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Fall C. H., Barker D. J., Osmond C., Winter P. D., Clark P. M., Hales C. N. Relation of infant feeding to adult serum cholesterol concentration and death from ischaemic heart disease. BMJ. 1992 Mar 28;304(6830):801–805. doi: 10.1136/bmj.304.6830.801. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Fontbonne A., Charles M. A., Thibult N., Richard J. L., Claude J. R., Warnet J. M., Rosselin G. E., Eschwège E. Hyperinsulinaemia as a predictor of coronary heart disease mortality in a healthy population: the Paris Prospective Study, 15-year follow-up. Diabetologia. 1991 May;34(5):356–361. doi: 10.1007/BF00405009. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Hales C. N., Barker D. J., Clark P. M., Cox L. J., Fall C., Osmond C., Winter P. D. Fetal and infant growth and impaired glucose tolerance at age 64. BMJ. 1991 Oct 26;303(6809):1019–1022. doi: 10.1136/bmj.303.6809.1019. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Langley S. C., Jackson A. A. Increased systolic blood pressure in adult rats induced by fetal exposure to maternal low protein diets. Clin Sci (Lond) 1994 Feb;86(2):217–121. doi: 10.1042/cs0860217. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Law C. M., Barker D. J., Osmond C., Fall C. H., Simmonds S. J. Early growth and abdominal fatness in adult life. J Epidemiol Community Health. 1992 Jun;46(3):184–186. doi: 10.1136/jech.46.3.184. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Law C. M., de Swiet M., Osmond C., Fayers P. M., Barker D. J., Cruddas A. M., Fall C. H. Initiation of hypertension in utero and its amplification throughout life. BMJ. 1993 Jan 2;306(6869):24–27. doi: 10.1136/bmj.306.6869.24. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Osmond C., Barker D. J., Winter P. D., Fall C. H., Simmonds S. J. Early growth and death from cardiovascular disease in women. BMJ. 1993 Dec 11;307(6918):1519–1524. doi: 10.1136/bmj.307.6918.1519. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Phillips D. I., Clark P. M., Hales C. N., Osmond C. Understanding oral glucose tolerance: comparison of glucose or insulin measurements during the oral glucose tolerance test with specific measurements of insulin resistance and insulin secretion. Diabet Med. 1994 Apr;11(3):286–292. doi: 10.1111/j.1464-5491.1994.tb00273.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Phipps K., Barker D. J., Hales C. N., Fall C. H., Osmond C., Clark P. M. Fetal growth and impaired glucose tolerance in men and women. Diabetologia. 1993 Mar;36(3):225–228. doi: 10.1007/BF00399954. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Reaven G. M. Banting lecture 1988. Role of insulin resistance in human disease. Diabetes. 1988 Dec;37(12):1595–1607. doi: 10.2337/diab.37.12.1595. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Valdez R., Athens M. A., Thompson G. H., Bradshaw B. S., Stern M. P. Birthweight and adult health outcomes in a biethnic population in the USA. Diabetologia. 1994 Jun;37(6):624–631. doi: 10.1007/BF00403383. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from BMJ : British Medical Journal are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES