Flow-Mediated Dilation in 9- to 11-Year-Old Children
- 7 October 1997
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Wolters Kluwer Health in Circulation
- Vol. 96 (7), 2233-2238
- https://doi.org/10.1161/01.cir.96.7.2233
Abstract
Background Early life factors, particularly size at birth, may influence later risk of cardiovascular disease, but a mechanism for this influence has not been established. We have examined the relation between birth weight and endothelial function (a key event in atherosclerosis) in a population-based study of children, taking into account classic cardiovascular risk factors in childhood. Methods and Results We studied 333 British children aged 9 to 11 years in whom information on birth weight, maternal factors, and risk factors (including blood pressure, lipid fractions, preload and postload glucose levels, smoking exposure, and socioeconomic status) was available. A noninvasive ultrasound technique was used to assess the ability of the brachial artery to dilate in response to increased blood flow (induced by forearm cuff occlusion and release), an endothelium-dependent response. Birth weight showed a significant, graded, positive association with flow-mediated dilation (0.027 mm/kg; 95% CI, 0.003 to 0.051 mm/kg; P=.02). Childhood cardiovascular risk factors (blood pressure, total and LDL cholesterol, and salivary cotinine level) showed no relation with flow-mediated dilation, but HDL cholesterol level was inversely related (−0.067 mm/mmol; 95% CI, −0.021 to −0.113 mm/mmol; P=.005). The relation between birth weight and flow-mediated dilation was not affected by adjustment for childhood body build, parity, cardiovascular risk factors, social class, or ethnicity. Conclusions Low birth weight is associated with impaired endothelial function in childhood, a key early event in atherogenesis. Growth in utero may be associated with long-term changes in vascular function that are manifest by the first decade of life and that may influence the long-term risk of cardiovascular disease.Keywords
This publication has 36 references indexed in Scilit:
- Thinness at Birth and Glucose Tolerance in Seven‐year‐old ChildrenDiabetic Medicine, 1995
- Growth in utero and serum cholesterol concentrations in adult life.BMJ, 1993
- The pathogenesis of atherosclerosis: a perspective for the 1990sNature, 1993
- Non-invasive detection of endothelial dysfunction in children and adults at risk of atherosclerosisThe Lancet, 1992
- The Dinamap 1846SX automated blood pressure recorder: comparison with the Hawksley random zero sphygmomanometer under field conditions.Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 1992
- Relation of fetal and infant growth to plasma fibrinogen and factor VII concentrations in adult life.BMJ, 1992
- Early Life Experience and Adult Cardiovascular Disease: Longitudinal and Case-Control StudiesInternational Journal of Epidemiology, 1991
- Large coronary arteries in humans are responsive to changing blood flow: An endothelium-dependent mechanism that fails in patients with atherosclerosisJournal of the American College of Cardiology, 1990
- WEIGHT IN INFANCY AND DEATH FROM ISCHAEMIC HEART DISEASEThe Lancet, 1989
- Crucial role of endothelium in the vasodilator response to increased flow in vivo.Hypertension, 1986