Within pair association between birth weight and blood pressure at age 8 in twins from a cohort study.

Dwyer T, Blizzard L

1999

Southern Tasmania

888 children had their blood pressure measured at age 8. Among them there were 104 twins (32 identical). Systolic blood pressure changed by - 1.94 mm Hg per 1kg increase in birth weight in singletons. For twins, blood pressure changed by -7.0 Hg for each 1 kg increase in birth weight. This was little altered in within pair analyses and was similar for both monozygotic and dizygotic pairs.

The authors conclude that maternal nutritional status and genetic factors are not the most important factors responsible for such correlations. The principal causal pathway must concern mechanisms within the fetoplacental unit. See entry no 0282.