Background: Recent studies show that low birth weight (LBW) infants are at risk of increased arterial blood pressure (BP) in adulthood. Previous work from our centre and others suggests that arterial stiffness (AS) is increased in such patients. However, the respective roles of preterm birth and of intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) are unclear.
Aim: To characterize AS and BP in adolescents who were: born at term with an appropriate birth weight for gestational age (GA) (group 1, n=41); born preterm with an appropriate birth weight for GA (group 2, n=25); born at term and small for GA (group 3, n=24).
Patients and methods: Systemic BP was measured with an automated oscillometric device. AS was assessed by measuring pulse wave velocity (PWV) between carotid and radial arteries.
Results: 90 adolescents were studied at a mean (SD) age of 13.9 (1.2) years. Subjects from group 2 were born with a 33.6 (1.5) GA. Systolic BP, mean BP, and PWV were significantly increased in group 2 subjects in comparison to both group 1 (123 +/- 11 vs. 117 +/- 11 mmHg, p = 0.04; 88 +/- 7 vs. 83 +/- 7 mmHg, p = 0.03; 7.7 +/- 1.0 vs. 7.0 +/- 0.9 m/s, p = 0.02 respectively) and to group 3 (114 +/- 15 mmHg, p = 0.03: 79 +/- 8 mmHg, p = 0.001; 6.8 +/- 0.9 m/s, p = 0.005 respectively) subjects. Systolic BP, mean BP, and PWV were similar in group 1 and group 3 subjects.
Conclusion: BP and AS are increased during adolescence in subjects born with a LBW due to preterm birth, while they are not altered in subjects when LBW is related to IUGR. It may be speculated that such changes predispose to long term hypertension and that preterm birth is involved in the early programming of arterial diseases in adulthood.