Influencia do peso de nascimento e do estado nutricional sobre a pressão arterial na infancia

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2001

RESUMO

Accorclingto the theory proposed by Barker et aI, which caused great effect in the past decade, diseases Iike hypertension, diabetes mellitus type n and visceraI obesity, might have been programmed in adverse intrauterine enviromnent, in malnourished fetus affected by maternallow protein intake, especially in the Iast tbree months of gestation. The authors noticed that in the first half of the 20th century, those areas in Great Britain where maternal and infant mortality rates were very high, coincided with the same areas in which, nowadays, there is a high incidence of cardiovascular mortality rate. Based on records of half a million subjects, fifty-four studies have associated improper birth size, especially low birth weight, with high levels of systolic blood pressure in childhood and hypertension in adults. Despite having caused a great enthusiasm, such a theory has still suggested some skepticism. This is due to the fact that Barker et ai associated the development and increase of mortality by cardiovascular diseases to the intrauterine environment, using data ftom fiftyyear old (or older) documents about the newbom child, birth and gestation Such data are thought to be statistically vulnerable, since there could be no control over the conditions in which they were collected. Moreover many were lost or showed to be incomplete. Some studies followed these subjects after birth, but hindered by the insuflicience and absence of data, led to inconsistent conclusions, based on fragments of the initial sample. Lucas et ai have suggested that fast growth in later years (posnataI centile crossing), not exactly feta! biology, would determine adverse outcome over health. Our study has checked the possible associations between birth weight, and systolic blood pressure, using the statisticaI methodology proposed by Lucas et aI, in a sample of 1239 childrenfrom elementary city schools in Jundiai, Sao Paulo. The influence of obesity over systolic blood pressure has been checked as well, and Barker s hypothesis proved not be applied to our sample. The conclusion we have come to is that, instead of birth weight, it is the difference between current weight and birth weight (i.e.disorderly improper growth) that showed to be significant in determining high levels of systolic blood pressure in childhood. Our final conclusion is that we should not save efforts to prevent and treat obesity in childhood

ASSUNTO(S)

obesidade nas crianças pressão arterial

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