Big mother or small baby: which predicts hypertension?

According to the Barker hypothesis, intrauterine growth restriction and premature delivery adversely affect cardiovascular health in adult life. The association of childhood hypertension as a cardiovascular risk factor and birth weight has been understudied. In a prospective cohort study, the authors evaluated the effect of birth weight, gestational age, maternal prepregnancy body mass index (BMI), and child BMI z score at the time of enrollment on the systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP) z score in 3024 (1373 women) consecutive outpatient clinic patients aged 2.