低出生体重婴儿的母亲易患心脏疾病
The lower the birth weight of her offspring, the more likely a woman is to die from heart disease, researchers report. For every 1 kilogram reduction in a baby‘s birth weight (about 2.2 pounds), the mother‘s risk of dying of heart disease doubles, report Dr. George Davey Smith of the University of Bristol, UK, and colleagues in the March 25th issue of the British Medical Journal.
"We found a strong inverse relation between infants‘ birth weights and mothers‘ mortality from cardiovascular disease," the authors write.
In the study, the researchers looked at the death registration records of nearly 45,000 women aged 15 to 45 who gave birth between 1976 and 1997.
Using a birth weight of 3.5 kilograms (about 7.7 pounds) as a reference, women were 2.2 times more likely to die from heart disease for each kilogram reduction in their baby‘s weight at birth, according to the report.
The differences were less obvious for overall death rates. For each 1-kilogram reduction in birth weight, a mother‘s chance of dying from any cause increased 1.6-fold.
Taking into account factors that might affect both the baby‘s and mother‘s health ?such as socioeconomic or marital status ?had ``little influence on the findings,‘‘ the investigators note.
While a woman‘s smoking, drinking or excess weight may reduce a baby‘s birth weight and increase her chances of dying of heart disease, Davey Smith‘s team suggests the ``magnitude of the association in the current study is too great‘‘ to be entirely explained by such factors.
Instead, the authors believe the higher death rates may relate to some as yet undiscovered relationship between the generations, which they conclude merits further investigation.
The findings in the new study agree with one published in 1997 by Davey Smith and others. In that study, which looked at women in a previous generation, the overall death rates of mothers increased 1.8-fold and their heart-related death rates doubled with every 1-kilogram reduction in infant birth weight. Fathers also faced 1.35-fold higher overall death rates and 1.5-fold higher heart-related death rates when their mates bore lighter infants., 百拇医药
"We found a strong inverse relation between infants‘ birth weights and mothers‘ mortality from cardiovascular disease," the authors write.
In the study, the researchers looked at the death registration records of nearly 45,000 women aged 15 to 45 who gave birth between 1976 and 1997.
Using a birth weight of 3.5 kilograms (about 7.7 pounds) as a reference, women were 2.2 times more likely to die from heart disease for each kilogram reduction in their baby‘s weight at birth, according to the report.
The differences were less obvious for overall death rates. For each 1-kilogram reduction in birth weight, a mother‘s chance of dying from any cause increased 1.6-fold.
Taking into account factors that might affect both the baby‘s and mother‘s health ?such as socioeconomic or marital status ?had ``little influence on the findings,‘‘ the investigators note.
While a woman‘s smoking, drinking or excess weight may reduce a baby‘s birth weight and increase her chances of dying of heart disease, Davey Smith‘s team suggests the ``magnitude of the association in the current study is too great‘‘ to be entirely explained by such factors.
Instead, the authors believe the higher death rates may relate to some as yet undiscovered relationship between the generations, which they conclude merits further investigation.
The findings in the new study agree with one published in 1997 by Davey Smith and others. In that study, which looked at women in a previous generation, the overall death rates of mothers increased 1.8-fold and their heart-related death rates doubled with every 1-kilogram reduction in infant birth weight. Fathers also faced 1.35-fold higher overall death rates and 1.5-fold higher heart-related death rates when their mates bore lighter infants., 百拇医药