Reduced fetal growth increases risk of cardiovascular disease.

Follow-up studies of several thousand people who were born in the first half of this century in England and who had been measured and weighed at birth by midwives or health visitors were carried out to investigate how these early measurements were related to the later occurrence of illness and death and to levels of risk factors for ischemic heart disease and stroke. The mortality rate from cardiovascular diseases was higher in people who as babies had been lightweight or short at birth or who had grown poorly during infancy. Levels of blood pressure in adult life were highest in people who had been small at birth. Plasma concentrations of fibrinogen were highest in men who had grown least during the first year of life. These findings suggest that reduced fetal and infant growth is an important determinant of risk of cardiovascular disease in adult life. They have implications for the prevention of cardiovascular disease, and they may help us understand international differences in rates of stroke and the secular trends in stroke mortality.