Birthweight in offspring and cardiovascular mortality in their parents, aunts and uncles: a family-based cohort study of 1.35 million births.

ABSTRACT:

Background

A link between suboptimal fetal growth and higher risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) is well documented. It has been difficult to assess the contribution of environmental versus genetic factors to the association, as these factors are closely connected in nuclear families. We investigated the association between offspring birthweight and CVD mortality in parents, aunts and uncles, and examined whether these associations are explained by CVD risk factors.

Methods

We linked Norwegian data from the Medical Birth Registry, the Cause of Death Registry and cardiovascular surveys. A total of 1 353 956 births (1967-2012) were linked to parents and one maternal and one paternal aunt/uncle. Offspring birthweight and CVD mortality association among all relationships was as

SUBMITTER: Shaikh F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7124506 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature