An inverse correlation between birth weight and blood pressure (BP) in childhood and adult life has been described. These findings were interpreted as showing that the intrauterine environment has an important effect on BP and hypertension in adults. The aim of this study was to examine the association of birth weight corrected for gestational age (GA), a more accurate measure of intrauterine growth, on BP at age 17 years. Data on 11,428 infants born between Nov. 1974 and Feb. 1976 was made available from the computerized records of the Jerusalem Perinatal Study and matched to data at age 17 obtained from the military draft medical examination records. For the small(SGA), appropriate, and large (LGA) for GA (percentiles 3 or 10) infants no difference was found in the systolic or diastolic BPs. A multiple linear and a stepwise logistic regressions were performed to control for the effects of independent variables [birth weight corrected for GA, birth order, ethnic origin, social status, maternal educational attainment, maternal BMI, and adolescent height and BMI] on the independent variables, high systolic(>130 mmHg) and diastolic (>80 mmHg) BPs. High systolic and diastolic BPs were positively correlated with BMI at age 17 in both sexes (P<0.001). Only systolic BP in the females was found to be significantly (P<0.03) associated with being born LGA, odds ratio 1.89, 95% confidence interval 1.09-3.27. The present data do not support an effect of poor fetal growth, as measured by being born SGA, on the variation in adult BP. However, being overweight at late adolescence was strongly associated with high BP.Table

Table 1