Approved Research

Effect of low birthweight on important cardiorespiratory morbidities in middle age.

Lay summary

Seven to eight percent of babies are born with low birthweight in the UK. We have shown that those with low birthweight or born prematurely have increased lung disease and increased blood pressure in childhood. But it is not known if these abnormalities improve or continue into late adulthood. The Biobank data provides a unique opportunity to determine if low birthweight leads to poor lung or heart disease in later life. We will use the birthweight that was reported by the participants. Although we will not be able to identify those who were born prematurely as most people cannot remember this, most do remember their birthweight. We will compare different ranges of birthweights (e.g. 500-999 grams, 1000-1499 grams, etc. with normal of 3,000-3499 grams) with measurements made in the Biobank studies for lung and heart health. In particular, we are interested in Biobank measurements of the lung, heart and physical activity as well as if their long term growth and weight is normal after being born with low birthweight. We will also determine the contribution to poor lung or heart health of any particular genes the participants may have. Especially, we shall search for genes already reported as being important in development of asthma and other lung or heart diseases. The results will suggest if we do or do not need to monitor and treat babies and young children with low birthweight in clinics from an early age. It, for instance, may be beneficial to improve their nutrition or start treatments (e.g. asthma inhalers or medicines to decrease blood pressure) in childhood or early adulthood, to prevent long term lung or heart disease. We expect this project will run for 36 Months.