Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Original Article
  • Published:

Relationship between birth weight and blood pressure variability in children

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 17, pages 677–680 (2003)Cite this article

Abstract

This cross-sectional study investigates the relationship between birth weight, 24-h blood pressure and blood pressure variability in childhood. Blood pressure was measured in 976 schoolchildren, free from cardiovascular disease, aged between 6 and 16 years. Blood pressure variability was estimated as the standard deviation of the 24-h mean (systolic and diastolic) blood pressure values. Linear regression showed that variation in systolic or diastolic blood pressure was not significantly associated with birth weight. Similarly, no association was found between blood pressure variability and birth weight when using the birth weight groups used by a previous study. Adjusting for other covariates, including mean 24-h blood pressure, made little difference to the observed results. No interactions were observed between birth weight and either gender or age on blood pressure variability. The results of this study do not support the suggestion of a significant association between birth weight and blood pressure variation in childhood. This might suggest that blood pressure variability is influenced mainly by environmental or lifestyle factors, but as little research has been published in this area, further investigation is required and in particular it would be important to assess the use of other measures of blood pressure variation.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Sokolow M, Werdegar D, Kaim HK, Hinman AT . Relationship between level of blood pressure measured casually and by portable recorders and severity of complications in essential hypertension. Circulation 1966; 34: 279–298.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. White WB, Schulman P, McCabe EJ, Dey HM . Average daily blood pressure, not office blood pressure, determines cardiac function in patients with hypertension. JAMA 1989; 261: 873–871.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Su DF, Miao CY . Blood pressure variability and organ damage. Clin Exp Pharmacol Physiol 2001; 28: 709–715.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Palatini P et al. Clinical relevance of nighttime blood pressure and of daytime blood pressure variability. Arch Intern Med 1992; 152: 1855–1860.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Roman MJ et al. Relation of blood pressure variability to carotid atherosclerosis and carotid artery and left ventricular hypertrophy. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 2001; 21: 1507–1511.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Sega R et al. Blood pressure variability and organ damage in a general population: results from the PAMELA study. Hypertension 2002; 39: 710–714.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Lurbe E et al. Birth weight influences blood pressure values and variability in children and adolescents. Hypertension 2001; 38: 389–393.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. O'Sullivan J, Wright C, Pearce MS, Parker L . The influence of age and gender on the relationship between birth weight and blood pressure in childhood: a study using 24-hour and casual blood pressure. Eur J Pediatr 2002; 161: 423–427.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. O'Sullivan JJ et al. Ambulatory blood pressure in schoolchildren. Arch Dis Child 1999; 80: 529–532.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. O'Sullivan JJ, Pearce MS, Parker L . Parental recall of birth weight: how accurate is it? Arch Dis Child 2000; 82: 202–203.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Royston P, Altman DG . Regression using fractional polynomials of continuous covariates: parsimonious parametric modelling. Appl Statist 1994; 43: 429–467.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. StataCorp. Stata Statistical Software, Release 6.0. Stata Corporation: College Station, TX, 1999.

  13. Di Rienzo M, Grassi G, Pedotti A, Mancia G . Continuous versus intermittent blood pressure measurements in estimating 24 h average blood pressure. Hypertension 1983; 5: 254–269.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Mancia G et al. Blood pressure variability and organ damage. J Cardiovasc Pharmacol 1994; 24 (Suppl A): S6–S11.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Jaquet F, Goldstein IB, Shapiro D . Effects of age and gender on ambulatory blood pressure and heart rate. J Human Hypertens 1998; 12: 253–257.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Kario K et al. Gender differences in associations of diurnal blood pressure variation, awake physical activity, and sleep quality with negative affect: The work site blood pressure study. Hypertension 2001; 38: 997–1002.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Parati G et al. Relationship of 24-hour blood pressure mean and variability to severity of target organ damage in hypertension. J Hypertens 1987; 5: 93–98.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Sander D et al. Relationship between circadian blood pressure patterns and progression of early carotid atherosclerosis: a 3-year follow-up study. Circulation 2000; 102: 1536–1541.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by a grant from the National Heart Research Fund and by the Ann Coleman legacy.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Paediatric and Lifecourse Epidemiology Research Group, School of Clinical Medical Sciences, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

    MS Pearce

  2. Department of Paediatric Cardiology, Freeman Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

    JJ O'Sullivan

Authors
  1. MS Pearce
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. JJ O'Sullivan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to MS Pearce.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Pearce, M., O'Sullivan, J. Relationship between birth weight and blood pressure variability in children. J Hum Hypertens 17, 677–680 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jhh.1001595

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jhh.1001595

Keywords

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links