Short stature and hypertension in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Abstract

Objective: Stature is a powerful indicator of poor nutrition early in life in nations where undernutrition is a public health problem. Hypertension in adults has been associated with factors present early in life such as low birth weight. We tested the hypothesis that short stature is associated with hypertension among adults. Design and setting: A household survey of representative adults in Rio de Janeiro city, Brazil was carried out in 1996. Subjects: Blood pressure and anthropometric measures were collected from 2802 adults in their own households. Prevalence estimates and modelling incorporated the sample design and weights. Results: Age-adjusted prevalence of hypertension for both sexes was lower in the third quartile of stature distribution. In women, but not in men, the odds ratio comparing the first quartile of stature with the fourth quartile was statistically significant with an odds ratio of 1.68 (95% CI 1.02-2.76). Adjusting for known risk factors for hypertension such as age, income, smoking, sodium and alcohol intake and race, the association among women, comparing the first with the fourth quartile for stature, was 1.84 (95% CI 1.03-3.30). With further adjustment for residual of weight on height the ratio reduced to 1.76 (95% CI 0.97-3.19, P value of trend = 0.03). Systolic blood pressure showed a U-shaped association with quartiles of stature, mainly among women, with a b-coefficient significantly lower at the third quartile. Conclusions: This association of stature with hypertension supports the theory of an important ontogenetic dependence of adult blood pressure, at least among women.

Early-Life Risk Factors Adult Chronic Disease, Follow-Up of a Cohort Born During 1964-1978 in an Urban Slum of Lahore, Pakistan

“…Possible reasons for the lack of an association between birthweight and blood pressure include the strong correlation between blood pressure and adult BMI negating any influences of the early-life environment. As observed by Schieri et al, our study did not show any association between the short obese and adult variables compared to tall obese (27).…”

Tendência do risco de morte por doenças circulatórias, cerebrovasculares e isquêmicas do coração em treze Estados do Brasil, de 1980 a 1998

“…Mortality rate increase in those states may have been influenced by: 1) improved diagnosis for the cause of death; 2) the results from higher urbanization level; 3) worse social and economic conditions in the region; 4) low schooling; and 5) other reasons, still questionable, which include from body weight at birth 14 to nutritional 15 , cultural 16 , and behavioral 17 aspects. Worsened social and economic conditions, low urbanization level, and low schooloing are attractive hypotheses, since better living standards are associated to decreased risk of death due to CD [18][19][20] Statistical Analysis -Multiple linear regression model was used.…”

Lower resting metabolic rate and higher velocity of weight gain in a prospective study of stunted vs nonstunted girls living in the shantytowns of São Paulo, Brazil

“…Data from studies in Brazil from others and us revealed an association between short stature and obesity in women, but not in men (Velasquez-Melendez et al, 1999;Sichieri et al, 2000;Florêncio et al, 2001). Studying the nutritional status of 1247 individuals of a community, living in the outskirts of Maceió (northeastern Brazil), a high prevalence of overweight-obesity (25%) and stunting (22%) was found.…”