Invited Commentary: Association between Restricted Fetal Growth and Adult Chronic Disease: Is It Causal? Is It Important?
Open Access
- 1 October 2000
- journal article
- editorial
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in American Journal of Epidemiology
- Vol. 152 (7) , 605-608
- https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/152.7.605
Abstract
The article by Leon et al. (1) adds to the large and expanding body of literature reporting associations between restricted fetal growth and subsequent adult chronic disease, particularly hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and coronary heart disease. In view of the long delay between exposure and outcome in these studies, the reported associations are remarkably robust. Beginning with ecologic studies by Forsdahl (2) in Norway and later by Barker and Osmond (3) in the United Kingdom, subsequent historical and cohort studies from Barker's group based on individual-level analyses have replicated the original findings (4 –6). Moreover, the associations have also been confirmed by many different groups of investigators in several countries, including the United Kingdom (7, 8), the United States (9 –12), Sweden (13, 14), Finland (15), India (16), Zimbabwe (17), South Africa (18), and Brazil (19).Keywords
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