Elsevier

The Lancet

Volume 358, Issue 9288, 6 October 2001, Pages 1159-1160
The Lancet

Research Letters
Preterm birth, vascular function, and risk factors for atherosclerosis

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(01)06276-6Get rights and content

Summary

Low birthweight may predispose to the development of atherosclerosis later in life. We have tested the hypothesis that low birthweight as a result of preterm birth is associated with reduced flow-mediated endothelial-dependent vasodilation (FMD), which is an early stage in the development of atherosclerosis. Mean FMD in adolescents born preterm who had a low birthweight did not differ from that for controls born at term (0.225 mm vs 0.220 mm, SD 0.1 for both means, p=0.78). Our findings indicate that low birthweight attributable to prematurity does not increase the risk of vascular disease later in life.

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    Citation Excerpt :

    Low birth weight infants result from not only intrauterine growth restriction but also preterm birth. Some previous investigations reported that preterm birth was associated with insulin resistance [2] and higher blood pressure [3] in later life, independent of low birth weight; however, such relationships were not found in other studies [4,5]. Although the relationship between preterm birth and such diseases is now controversial, a recent meta-analysis has suggested that there is a higher risk for developing at least some components of the metabolic syndrome [6–8].

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