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Rapid infant weight gain and prenatal maternal depression are associated with prehypertension/hypertension before age 9

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 34, pages 795–801 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

Early life prevention of obesity and associated metabolic disease is necessary to address the current obesity epidemic. Latino children have a higher risk of obesity, and associated comorbidities such as hypertension than Caucasian children. This study focuses on perinatal childhood and maternal risk factors associated with prehypertension and hypertension prior to age 9 in an urban Latino cohort. A cohort of low income, US born Latino children (n = 131) in San Francisco was followed from birth. Annual assessments were conducted including child dietary intake, anthropometrics, and blood pressure measurements. Maternal body mass index and depressive symptoms were assessed concurrently. Leukocyte telomere length was assessed at age 4 and 5 in children. Rapid infant weight gain (odds ratio (OR) 7.25, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.33–39.38) and prenatal maternal clinical depression (OR 6.70 95% CI 1.15–39.16) were associated with prehypertension/hypertension before age 9. Early life obesity and leukocyte telomere length were not associated with childhood hypertension. Rapid infant weight gain and exposure to prenatal maternal depression are predictive of childhood prehypertension/hypertension before age 9 in low income, US-born Latino children. The perinatal period is an important time point to target for prevention of childhood hypertension.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a grant from the Lundbeck Foundation to the Innovation Center, Denmark and University of California, San Francisco to fund the Lundbeck Foundation Clinical Research Fellowship for TWK. This study was funded by NIH NIDDK 080825, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health and Society Scholars Program, the NASPGHAN Foundation, the Hellman Family Foundation and UCSF CTSI-SOS. This research was also supported by NIH/NCRR UCSF-CTSI Grant Number UL1 RR024131 (JMW).

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  1. Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition, Department of Pediatrics, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Thora Wesenberg Kjaer, Rosalinda Medrano & Janet M. Wojcicki

  2. School of Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Thora Wesenberg Kjaer

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  1. Thora Wesenberg Kjaer
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  2. Rosalinda Medrano
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Correspondence to Janet M. Wojcicki.

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Kjaer, T.W., Medrano, R. & Wojcicki, J.M. Rapid infant weight gain and prenatal maternal depression are associated with prehypertension/hypertension before age 9. J Hum Hypertens 34, 795–801 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41371-020-0306-8

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