Birth measurements, family history, and environmental factors associated with later-life hypertensive status.

Background: This birth cohort study was conducted to investigate the contribution of prenatal and antenatal environmental exposures to later-life hypertensive status.

Methods: Two thousand five hundred and three individuals born in 1921-1954 at the Peking Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH) were targeted; 2,081 (83.1%) participated. Clinical examinations included an interview, blood pressure (BP) measurements, and laboratory assays. Statistical analyses were performed using ordinal regression models with later-life hypertensive status as the dependent variable. Similar analyses were for subpopulations divided by family history of hypertension.

Results: In the 2,081 subjects, 449 were normotensive, 531 were prehypertensive, and 1,101 had hypertension. Three hundred and forty two hypertensive patients were classified as high-risk (BP ≥180/110 mm Hg, or accompanied with diabetes or three well-established cardiovascular risk factors); the other 759 patients were at mid-to-low risks. Lower birth weight (<2,500 g: odds ratio (OR) = 1.67, P = 0.02; 2,500- <3,000 g: OR = 1.64, P < 0.01; 3,000- <3,500 g, OR = 1.40, P = 0.01), family history of hypertension (OR = 1.73, P < 0.01), poor education (OR = 1.76, P < 0.01), and alcoholism (OR = 3.05, P < 0.01) significantly predicted later-life high-risk hypertension. For participants with hypertensive family history (57.7%), the association with birth weight became nonsignificant, but poor education (OR = 2.33, P < 0.01) and alcoholism (OR = 3.10, P = 0.01) remained important. For participants without hypertensive family history (42.3%), the effects of lower birth weight (<2,500 g: OR = 2.26, P = 0.02; 2,500- <3,000 g: OR = 1.91, P = 0.01; 3,000- <3,500 g, OR = 1.78, P = 0.01) and alcoholism (OR = 3.23, P < 0.01) remained significant.

Conclusion: Low birth weight, low education, alcoholism, and hypertensive family history are linked to later-life hypertensive status. Low birth weight is also partly associated with one's genetic background; whereas the association with education and alcoholism are independent from hypertensive family history.