Maternal age and newborn blood pressure

Abstract

0018 Background. Blood pressure (bp) level after birth may reflect the fetal cardiovascular environment, but few data exist on newborn bp. Methods. We report findings from a new cohort of pregnant women and their offspring, Project Viva. Enrollment as of September, 2000, is 1338 pregnant women (of a target 6000), and 581 have delivered. Data collected include maternal dietary, sociodemographic, economic, psychological, lifestyle, and clinical variables; and infant bp, pulse rate, length, weight, and circumferences measured during the first 2 days of life. We averaged 5 systolic bp readings taken with a Dinamap automated bp recorder. This abstract is limited to the first 260 measured newborns (131 girls and 129 boys) and partial maternal data. Results. The highest newborn systolic bp was in children of the oldest mothers, and the lowest in the maternal age group 20-24 years ( Table). Multivariate adjustment for infant birth weight and sex and for maternal body mass index, pregnancy weight gain, 3 rd trimester bp, and number of pregnancies did not attenuate the differences. For example, adjusted mean newborn systolic bp was 10.8 (95% CI 2.4, 19.2) mmHg higher among children of 40-44 y.o. than 20-24 y.o. mothers. Variables minimally or not related to newborn systolic bp included birth weight and length, pulse rate, head, chest, and abdominal circumferences, gestational age, and maternal body mass index, weight gain, and systolic bp. Conclusions. Higher maternal age was associated with higher newborn systolic bp. Whereas bp later in childhood predicts adult hypertension and its consequences, newborn bp may represent different phenomena, such as pre- and peri-natal influences on cardiac structure and function. Studies of newborn bp may shed new light on effects of the fetal environment on lifelong cardiovascular health. Table 1.