Arch Dis Child 2000;82:358-363 ( May )

Article

Prepubertal stature and blood pressure in early old age Scott M Montgomery^a, Lee R Berney^b, David Blane^c

^a Department of Medicine (10th floor), Royal Free Campus, Royal Free & University College Medical School, Rowland Hill Street, London NW3 2PF, UK, ^b LSE Health, London School of Economics & Political Science, London, UK, ^c Department of Behavioural & Cognitive Science, Imperial College of Science, Technology & Medicine, London, UK

Correspondence to: Dr Montgomery email: smm{at}rfhsm.ac.uk

Accepted 4 February 2000

AIMSTo test the hypothesis that childhood growth rate is a marker for formation of control mechanisms that influence blood pressure in early old age.
METHODSData are from a sample of 149 (74 male) members of Sir John Boyd Orr's survey of British families conducted between 1937 and 1939. Measured heights were collected between ages 5 and 8 years, and in early old age between 1997 and 1998. Multiple linear regression investigated the relations of blood pressure with age and sex standardised childhood height with adjustment for potential confounding factors, including adult height. Inclusion of both childhood and adult heights in the same model was used to estimate growth, as measures of childhood height are relative to adult height.
RESULTSMean blood pressures in early old age for those in the shortest childhood height fifth were 167.8 and 76.3 mm Hg for systolic blood pressure and pulse pressure, respectively. For the tallest fifth they were 150.8 and 63.7 mm Hg, respectively. After adjustment for potential confounding factors including adult height, the mean increase for the shortest childhood height fifth compared with the tallest was 28.5 mm Hg for systolic pressure (p = 0.015) and 22.8 mm Hg (p = 0.010) for pulse pressure. The relations of blood pressure with adult height were not statistically significant in the adjusted models.
CONCLUSIONPrepubertal growth rate is associated with the formation of mechanisms associated with the control of blood pressure in later life.


Keywords: blood pressure; growth; height; old age

---

© 2000 by Archives of Disease in Childhood
CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Montgomery, S. M, Netuveli, G., Hildon, Z., Blane, D. (2007). Does financial disadvantage at older ages eliminate the potential for better health?. J. Epidemiol. Community Health 61: 891-895 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Montgomery, S M, Ehlin, A, Sacker, A (2006). Breast feeding and resilience against psychosocial stress. Arch. Dis. Child. 91: 990-994 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Regidor, E., Gutierrez-Fisac, J. L, Banegas, J. R, Dominguez, V., Rodriguez-Artalejo, F. (2006). Association of adult socioeconomic position with hypertension in older people. J. Epidemiol. Community Health 60: 74-80 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Langenberg, C., Hardy, R., Breeze, E., Kuh, D., Wadsworth, M. E. (2005). Influence of short stature on the change in pulse pressure, systolic and diastolic blood pressure from age 36 to 53 years: an analysis using multilevel models. Int J Epidemiol 34: 905-913 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Blane, D. (2005). Cohort Profile: The Boyd Orr lifegrid sub-sample--medical sociology study of life course influences on early old age. Int J Epidemiol 34: 750-754 [Full Text]  
• Tatchum-Talom, R., Martel, C., Marette, A. (2002). Influence of estrogen on aortic stiffness and endothelial function in female rats. Am. J. Physiol. Heart Circ. Physiol. 282: H491-H498 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• McCarron, P., Okasha, M., McEwen, J., Smith, G. D., Neal, B. (2001). Changes in blood pressure among students attending Glasgow University between 1948 and 1968: analyses of cross sectional surveys Commentary: Changing population blood pressure levels. BMJ 322: 885-889 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Blane, D. (2001). Commentary: Socioeconomic health differentials. Int J Epidemiol 30: 292-293 [Full Text]