Birth link to blood pressure
November 17, 2003 (Australian News)

Aboriginal babies whose birth weight is low are significantly more likely to have high blood pressure later in life, even if they grow into adults of normal weight.

A study in today's Medical Journal of Australia is the first to establish a link between birth weight and adult blood pressure among Aboriginal people.

Low birth weight - caused by poor maternal nutrition, smoking, alcohol, infections, poor antenatal care and social stress - is more than twice as common among Aboriginal babies as the rest of the population.

The Northern Territory study involved 767 members of a remote Aboriginal community with high rates of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and renal disease. All participants were between seven and 43 years old.

Eighteen per cent of the children and 35 per cent of the adults had been low-birth-weight babies.

The study found that those with normal birth weight and normal body mass index as adults had the lowest blood pressure.

Those with low birth weight and a high adult BMI had the highest blood pressure.

Being overweight commonly leads to increased blood pressure.

Among the adults who were of normal weight or overweight, those with low birth weights had higher blood pressures as adults, compared with those with normal birth weights.

Authors Gurmeet Singh and Wendy Hoy, of the Menzies School of Health Research, said the findings were significant, given the detrimental effect of high blood pressure on the chronic illnesses common in Aboriginal populations.