Abstract
BackgroundTo investigate whether low birth weight increases the risk of myocardial infarction later in life in women.MethodsNationwide population-based case-control study. Patients and controls: 152 patients with a first myocardial infarction before the age of 50 years in the Netherlands. 568 control women who had not had a myocardial infarction stratified for age, calendar year of the index event, and area of residence.ResultsBirth weight in the patient group was significantly lower than in control women (3214 vs. 3370 gram, mean difference -156.3 gram (95%CI -9.5 to -303.1). The odds ratio for myocardial infarction, associated with a birth weight lower than 3000 gram (20th percentile in controls) compared to higher than 3000 gram was 1.7 (95%CI 1.1–2.7), while the odds ratio for myocardial infarction for children with a low birth weight (< 2000 g) compared to a birth weight ≥ 2000 g was 2.4 (95%CI 1.0 – 5.8). Both figures did not change after adjustment for putative confounders (age, education level, body mass index, waist-hip ratio, hypertension, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, smoking, and family history of cardiovascular disease).ConclusionsLow birth weight is associated with an increased risk of myocardial infarction before age of 50 in Dutch women.
Highlights
To investigate whether low birth weight increases the risk of myocardial infarction later in life in women
Low birth weight is associated with an increased risk of myocardial infarction before age of 50 in Dutch women
The risk of myocardial infarction was 6.2 fold increased (95%CI 2.7–13.9) among women with low birth weight and a low educational level compared to women with a high birth weight and a high educational level
Summary
To investigate whether low birth weight increases the risk of myocardial infarction later in life in women. Intrauterine malnutrition, as reflected by birth weight and abnormal thinness at birth, has been associated with an increased incidence of risk factors for arterial disease, i.e. hypertension, impaired glucose tolerance, diabetes and to a lesser extent hyperlipidemia and body fat distribution in adulthood [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10] This observation has become known as the 'fetal origins of adult disease' or 'Barker hypothesis', which suggests that several of the major diseases of later life, including coronary heart disease, stroke and cardiovascular death, originate in impaired intrauterine growth and development [11,12]. The association was not found in a cohort study from Gothenburg [18].
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