Low birth weight and longitudinal trends of cardiovascular risk factor variables from childhood to adolescence: the bogalusa heart study

BACKGROUND: Several studies have linked low birth weight to adverse levels of cardiovascular risk factors and related diseases. However, information is sparse at a community level in the U.S. general population regarding the effects of low birth weight on the longitudinal trends in cardiovascular risk factor variables measured concurrently from childhood to adolescence. METHODS: Longitudinal analysis was performed retrospectively on data collected from the Bogalusa Heart Study cohort (n = 1141; 57% white, 43% black) followed from childhood to adolescence by repeated surveys between 1973 and 1996. Subjects were categorized into low birth weight (below the race-specific 10th percentile; n = 123) and control (between race-specific 50-75th percentile; n = 296) groups. RESULTS: Low birth weight group vs control group had lower mean HDL cholesterol (p = 0.05) and higher LDL cholesterol (p = 0.05) during childhood (ages 4-11 years); higher glucose (p = 0.02) during adolescence. Yearly rates of change from childhood to adolescence in systolic blood pressure (p = 0.02), LDL cholesterol (p = 0.05), and glucose (p = 0.07) were faster, and body mass index (p = 0.03) slower among the low birth weight group. In a multivariate analysis, low birth weight was related independently and adversely to longitudinal trends in systolic blood pressure (p = 0.004), triglycerides (p = 0.03), and glucose (p = 0.07), regardless of race or gender. These adverse associations became amplified with age. CONCLUSIONS: Low birth weight is characterized by adverse developmental trends in metabolic and hemodynamic variables during childhood and adolescence; and thus, it may be an early risk factor in this regard.