Abstract
Objectives: To investigate the association between birth weight and the risk of hypertension, and to examine the interaction between birth weight and the adult obesity index.Methods: We included 199,893 participants who had birth weight data and no history of hypertension at baseline (2006–2010) from the UK Biobank. A multivariate cubic regression spline was used to visually explore the dose-response relationship. Multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression models were used to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).Results: We observed a nonlinear inverse association between birth weight and hypertension. The risk for hypertension decreased as birth weight increased up to approximately 3.80 kg. Compared with the participants with the fourth quintile of birth weight (3.43–3.80 kg), those with the first quartile of birth weight (<2.88 kg) were associated with a 25% higher risk of hypertension [HR 1.25; 95% CI (1.18–1.32)]. In addition, the participants with birth weight <2.88 kg and body mass index ≥30 kg/m2 had the highest risk [HR 3.54; 95% CI (3.16–3.97); p for interaction <0.0001], as compared with those with birth weight between 3.43–3.80 kg and body mass index between 18.5–25.0 kg/m2. These associations were largely consistent in the stratified and sensitivity analyses.Conclusion: Our findings indicate that lower birth weight is nonlinearly correlated with higher risk of hypertension, and birth weight between 3.43–3.80 kg might represent an intervention threshold. Moreover, lower birth weight may interact with adult obesity to significantly increase hypertension risk.
Highlights
Fetal malnutrition, the primary indicator of which is low birth weight, can permanently alter organ structure and function in a way that predisposes the offspring to cardiovascular disease (CVD) in adulthood [1, 2]
During a median follow-up of 8.8 years, 12,333 hypertension events occurred among 199,893 participants
The risk of hypertension decreased as birth weight increased up to approximately 3.80 kg (p for nonlinearity = 0.0004)
Summary
The primary indicator of which is low birth weight, can permanently alter organ structure and function in a way that predisposes the offspring to cardiovascular disease (CVD) in adulthood [1, 2]. Growing evidence has suggested that low birth weight increases the risk of hypertension [3,4,5]. Some studies reported higher birth weight in relation to increased hypertension risk [11,12,13], whereas other studies did not find such an association [14, 15]. These conflicting results might be attributed to the differences in sample sizes and confounder adjustments [13]. Few studies have examined potential interaction between birth weight and the adult obesity index on hypertension risk, there is evidence showing an effect on CVD risk [18, 19]
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