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Sex-specific programming of cardiovascular physiology in children

Sex-specific programming of cardiovascular physiology in children
Sex-specific programming of cardiovascular physiology in children
Aims: Increasing evidence suggests that adverse prenatal environments, as indicated by low birth weight, cause long-term changes in cardiovascular physiology that predispose to circulatory disease. The mechanisms are poorly understood, most human studies have been carried out in adults and little is known about early pathophysiological changes. Therefore, we have assessed the relationship between birth weight and cardiovascular physiology in children.

Methods and results: In 140 healthy boys and girls (aged 7–9 years), born at term and followed prospectively, we continuously recorded blood pressure, electrocardiograms and cardiac impedance before, during, and after 10 min of psychosocial stress (Trier Social Stress Test for Children). In boys, an association of lower birth weight with higher resting systemic arterial pressure (? = –6.8 mmHg/kg, P= 0.03) and a trend towards higher vascular resistance (? = –87 dyne s/cm5/kg, ns) were substantially strengthened following stress (? = –9.5 mmHg/kg, P= 0.003 and ? = –139 dyne s/cm5/kg, P = 0.02, respectively). In girls, lower birth weight was associated with a shorter pre-ejection period (? = 8.0 ms/kg, P = 0.005) and corrected QT interval (? = 11.9 ms/kg, P = 0.003) at rest and little changed by stress.

Conclusion: Smaller size at birth is associated with sex-specific alterations in cardiac physiology; boys had higher systemic vascular resistance and girls had increased cardiac sympathetic activation.
foetal programming, epidemiology, paediatrics, physiology, stress, sympathetic-nerve activity, blood, weight, blood-pressure, aged, disease, system, responses, england, birth-weight, reactivity, psychological stress, adult, impedance cardiography, association, birth, arterial, birth weight, psychosocial stress, children, size, low-birth-weight, methods, blood pressure, environment, human
0195-668X
2164-2170
Jones, Alexander
30ae2721-6220-46fd-837b-d4455962a391
Beda, Alessandro
ef878799-6847-45c6-9489-a4e91f2c9d56
Osmond, Clive
2677bf85-494f-4a78-adf8-580e1b8acb81
Godfrey, Keith M.
0931701e-fe2c-44b5-8f0d-ec5c7477a6fd
Simpson, David M.
53674880-f381-4cc9-8505-6a97eeac3c2a
Phillips, David I.W.
29b73be7-2ff9-4fff-ae42-d59842df4cc6
Jones, Alexander
30ae2721-6220-46fd-837b-d4455962a391
Beda, Alessandro
ef878799-6847-45c6-9489-a4e91f2c9d56
Osmond, Clive
2677bf85-494f-4a78-adf8-580e1b8acb81
Godfrey, Keith M.
0931701e-fe2c-44b5-8f0d-ec5c7477a6fd
Simpson, David M.
53674880-f381-4cc9-8505-6a97eeac3c2a
Phillips, David I.W.
29b73be7-2ff9-4fff-ae42-d59842df4cc6

Jones, Alexander, Beda, Alessandro, Osmond, Clive, Godfrey, Keith M., Simpson, David M. and Phillips, David I.W. (2008) Sex-specific programming of cardiovascular physiology in children. European Heart Journal, 29 (17), 2164-2170. (doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehn292). (PMID:18648105)

Record type: Article

Abstract

Aims: Increasing evidence suggests that adverse prenatal environments, as indicated by low birth weight, cause long-term changes in cardiovascular physiology that predispose to circulatory disease. The mechanisms are poorly understood, most human studies have been carried out in adults and little is known about early pathophysiological changes. Therefore, we have assessed the relationship between birth weight and cardiovascular physiology in children.

Methods and results: In 140 healthy boys and girls (aged 7–9 years), born at term and followed prospectively, we continuously recorded blood pressure, electrocardiograms and cardiac impedance before, during, and after 10 min of psychosocial stress (Trier Social Stress Test for Children). In boys, an association of lower birth weight with higher resting systemic arterial pressure (? = –6.8 mmHg/kg, P= 0.03) and a trend towards higher vascular resistance (? = –87 dyne s/cm5/kg, ns) were substantially strengthened following stress (? = –9.5 mmHg/kg, P= 0.003 and ? = –139 dyne s/cm5/kg, P = 0.02, respectively). In girls, lower birth weight was associated with a shorter pre-ejection period (? = 8.0 ms/kg, P = 0.005) and corrected QT interval (? = 11.9 ms/kg, P = 0.003) at rest and little changed by stress.

Conclusion: Smaller size at birth is associated with sex-specific alterations in cardiac physiology; boys had higher systemic vascular resistance and girls had increased cardiac sympathetic activation.

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More information

Published date: September 2008
Keywords: foetal programming, epidemiology, paediatrics, physiology, stress, sympathetic-nerve activity, blood, weight, blood-pressure, aged, disease, system, responses, england, birth-weight, reactivity, psychological stress, adult, impedance cardiography, association, birth, arterial, birth weight, psychosocial stress, children, size, low-birth-weight, methods, blood pressure, environment, human
Organisations: Medicine, Signal Processing & Control Group, Health Sciences

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 65346
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/65346
ISSN: 0195-668X
PURE UUID: 319f556b-c0dd-4c43-ba5b-113feef7a0ea
ORCID for Clive Osmond: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-9054-4655
ORCID for Keith M. Godfrey: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-4643-0618
ORCID for David M. Simpson: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-9072-5088

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Date deposited: 13 Feb 2009
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 03:29

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Contributors

Author: Alexander Jones
Author: Alessandro Beda
Author: Clive Osmond ORCID iD
Author: David I.W. Phillips

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