Familial aggregation of blood-pressure in newly born infants and their mothers.

The results of blood-pressure measurements in a group of 48 women and their newly born infants are reported. The systolic blood-pressure (SBP) was measured in the infants on the 2nd or 3rd day and on the 4th or 5th day after delivery. SBP in the infants was found to increase from the first measurement at the age of 2 or 3 days to the second measurement at the age of 4-5 days. No significant correlation was found between the SBP in the mothers and the recordings in the infants aged 2-3 days but highly significant correlation was found between the SBP in the infants at 4-5 days and both the SBP (r=0.54, p less than 0.001) and the diastolic blood-pressures (r=0.37, p less than 0.05) in the mothers. Familial aggregation of blood-pressure levels has thus been demonstrated in infants at an earlier age than previously reported.