Premature birth raises blood pressure risk: study

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Premature birth may create a risk for
high blood pressure, a study by scientists based on tests of
Swedish men showed on Monday.

The study, to be presented in the Wednesday edition of the
Journal of the American Heart Association, involved 329,495
Swedish men born between 1973 and 1981 and drafted for military
service between 1993 and 2001, who had blood pressure tests.

It found that men born extremely pre-term, at less than 29
weeks, had almost twice the risk of high blood pressure, which
raises the chances of heart attacks, strokes and other
illnesses.

Men born very pre-term, at 29-32 weeks, had a 45 percent
increased risk, while those born moderately pre-term, at 33 to
36 weeks, had a 24 percent increased risk.

“In this study, pre-term birth was identified as a new and
very early risk factor for high blood pressure,” said Stefan
Johansson, lead author of the study and a neonatologist at the
Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm.

“The risk was particularly high among young men who were
born at least eight weeks early,” he added in a statement.

The association between pre-term birth and high blood
pressure was unlikely to be explained by family history or
genetic factors, he said. Rather it was likely to be due to
challenges faced by the premature baby.