Early Life Microcirculatory Plasticity and Blood Pressure Changes in Low Birth Weight Infants Born to Normotensive Mothers: A Cohort Study.

Background: Capillary rarefaction (CR) is an established hallmark of essential hypertension (EH). The aim of this study was to examine early changes in capillary density (CD) and blood pressure (BP) in low birth weight (LBW) infants who are at risk of developing EH in later life.

Methods: We studied 77 LBW infants and 284 normal birth weight (NBW) infants, all born to mothers with normotension, in a longitudinal multicenter study.