Birth Weight and the Risk of Cardiovascular Outcomes: A Report From the Large Population-Based UK Biobank Cohort Study

Abstract

Background Birth weight has been reported to be associated with the risk of incident cardiovascular disease (CVD); however, the relationship remains inconclusive. Here, we aimed to prospectively assess the associations between birth weight and CVD risk using the data from UK Biobank, a large-scale, prospective cohort study. Methods We included 270,297 participants who were free of CVD at baseline and reported their birth weight for analyses. The primary outcome was incident CVD. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for outcomes were calculated using Cox proportional hazards models adjusted for potential confounding variables. Results During a median follow-up of 8.07 years (IQR: 7.4–8.7 years), 10,719 incident CVD events were recorded. The HRs for low birth weight vs. normal birth weight (2.5–4.0 kg) were 1.23 (95% CI: 1.09–1.38) for risk of incident CVD, 1.52 (95% CI: 1.18–1.95) for stroke, 1.33 (95% CI: 1.07–1.64) for myocardial infarction, and 1.15 (95% CI: 1.01–1.32) for CHD. For the ones with low birth weight, the risk of CVD is reduced by 11% for every kilogram of birth weight gain. The association of low birth weight with CVD was stronger among those younger than 55 years ( p = 0.001). No association between high birth weight and risk of cardiovascular outcomes was found. Conclusion Low birth weight was associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events. These findings highlight the longstanding consequence of low birth weight on cardiovascular system.