Background: The objective was to study the influence of birth weight on office and ambulatory pulse pressure.
Methods and results: Three hundred healthy children (176 girls), aged 10-18 years, born at term after a normotensive pregnancy were included. The subjects were divided according to birth weight: 2.000-2.500 kg, 2.501-3.000 kg, 3.001-3.500 kg and >3.500 kg. For each subject, office and 24-h ambulatory blood pressure monitoring were performed according to the protocol designed. There were significant differences among groups in 24-h ambulatory systolic blood pressure, and pulse pressure (PP). No differences were observed in terms of sex, current age, weight and height. Using a multiple linear regression analysis, sex, but not birth weight was the only independent factor related to office PP after controlling for current age, weight and height. Twenty-four hour pulse pressure was significantly related not only to current weight but also inversely to birth weight after controlling for sex, current age, and height.
Conclusions: The results disclose a relationship between birth weight and ambulatory pulse pressure while seeking to advance knowledge about the possible associations between birth weight and cardiovascular risk.