Increased risk of cardiovascular disease for babies born with low and high birth weight

Babies born with low-birth weight and high-birth weight appears to increase the likelihood of developing cardiovascular disease, according to a new study.

Research from the Children’s Hospital of Georgia and the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University found that children born in one of the two extremes had not only a greater stand-alone risk factor for cardiovascular disease, they also had a higher risk factor for cardiovascular related problems such as insulin resistance and inflammation than babies born of average birth weight.

The study looked at 575 adolescents, now aged 14-18, divided into three groups by birth weight. The findings were independent of other, more common risk factors such as activity level and socioeconomic status.

Most notable from the new study was the finding that the association between birth weight and cardiovascular disease could not be easily modified by healthy eating and exercise. Instead, researchers found that adolescents born of low birth weight had similar body make-ups as those born of average birth weight but still had greater stand-alone risk factors and higher levels of insulin in their blood.

Researchers said despite the new information, the take home message for mothers is not new.

Don’t smoke and do breastfeed,” said neonatologist at the Children’s Hospital of Georgia, D. Brian Stansfield.

“Maternal smoking is the number one cause of low-birth weight babies, and breast milk may be protective.”

While generally research has shown that high-birth weight babies tend to become larger adults, and low-birth weight babies tend to grow into smaller ones, Stansfield’s study found that low-birth weight babies also had higher rates of obesity, with only a slightly lower rate of overweight that their average-weight peers.