Abstract

AIMS To test the hypothesis that childhood growth rate is a marker for formation of control mechanisms that influence blood pressure in early old age.

METHODS Data 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.

RESULTS Mean 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.

CONCLUSION Prepubertal growth rate is associated with the formation of mechanisms associated with the control of blood pressure in later life.