Inflammation May Be Link Between Heart Disease and Fetal Growth

Inflammation May Be Link Between Heart Disease and Fetal Growth
By Crystal Phend, Staff Writer, MedPage TodayPublished: April 10, 2008Reviewed by Zalman S. Agus, MD; Emeritus Professor University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
LONDON, April 10 -- Low birth weight followed by excessive weight gain during adolescence may put the heart at risk by increasing low-grade inflammation, researchers said.
Explain to interested parents that the study suggested that growth in the womb and in adolescence can have an impact on inflammation, which has been linked to cardiovascular risk.
Note that the observational study did not include correlation with cardiovascular events because there were too few events in the young cohort.
Levels of the inflammatory marker C-reactive protein were 16% higher at age 31 for every 1 kg lower weight at birth and for each unit increase in body mass index from age 14 on, reported Paul Elliott, Ph.D., of Imperial College London, and colleagues, online in the European Heart Journal