Early linear growth retardation and later blood pressure

Early sodium intake and later blood pressure in preterm infants.

The relation between early salt intake and later hypertension is debated. As part of a larger feeding study, 347 preterm infants were randomly assigned to receive early diets differing grossly in sodium content. Feeding a high sodium preterm formula in the neonatal period did not influence arterial blood pressure at 18 months (corrected) age.

Early iron deficiency anemia and later mental retardation.

Early growth and later atherosclerosis.

The concept that early growth has long-term biological effects is based on extensive studies in animals dating from the 1930s. More recently, compelling evidence for a long-term influence of early growth on later health has also emerged in humans. Substantial data now support the hypothesis that 'accelerated', or too fast infant growth, increases the propensity to obesity, glucose intolerance, ...

Infant weight gain and later blood pressure.

To the Editor: Recently, Law et al1 reported that increased weight gain during early childhood (1 to 5 years) but not during infancy (birth to 1 year) is associated with later systolic blood pressure. From the latter, they concluded that “. . . none of the evidence so far indicates that promotion of infant growth increases cardiovascular risk.”1 In our opinion, this conclusion is not only incor...

Size at birth and later blood pressure.

Adults who were small at birth have been reported to have higher systolic blood pressure and risk of ischaemic heart disease in later life. Conversely, in 616 subjects of less than 34 weeks' gestation and 1850 g birth weight, systolic and diastolic blood pressures at 7.5 to 8 years of age decreased with decreasing weight for gestational age and were not related to birth weight. These data do no...