Sex specific diVerence in the relation between birth weight and arterial compliance in young adults: The Young Hearts Project

Low birth weight and small size at birth have been related to raised blood pressure in both childhood and adult life and a previous report has demonstrated lower arterial compliance in middle aged adults who were small at birth. It has been hypothesised that, in the growth retarded fetus, reduced arterial compliance results from impaired elastin synthesis in the walls of large arteries. Elastin synthesis in blood vessels seems to be primarily limited to the fetal and perinatal periods with no appreciable synthesis during adulthood. Investigation of the relation between birth weight and arterial compliance in young people, as in this study, presents an opportunity to test this hypothesis and has the advantage that the relation should not obscured by existing atherosclerosis, which is related to both birth weight and arterial compliance.