1. ¹United Bristol Healthcare Trust, Bristol, UK
2. ²Unit of Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology, Department of Community-based Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
3. ³Department of Social Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK

Correspondence: Dr SD Leary, Unit of Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology, Department of Community-based Medicine, University of Bristol, 24, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TQ, UK. E-mail: s.d.leary@bristol.ac.uk

Received 20 December 2004; Revised 28 April 2005; Accepted 20 June 2005; Published online 11 August 2005.

Abstract

Associations between maternal age in pregnancy and offspring blood pressure (BP) at age 7½ were investigated in 7623 singletons from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). In models adjusted for age and sex there was an inverse relationship between maternal age and BP in children: =-0.06 mmHg per year of maternal age (95% CI -0.10 to -0.01, P=0.02) for systolic BP and =-0.04 (95% CI -0.07 to -0.01, P=0.02) for diastolic BP. However, this association disappeared after adjustment for confounding factors: =-0.02 mmHg per year of maternal age (95% CI -0.07 to 0.04, P=0.5) for systolic BP and =-0.03 (95% CI -0.07 to 0.01, P=0.2) for diastolic BP. We conclude that there is no evidence of a relationship between maternal age in pregnancy and childhood BP in this contemporary birth cohort.