Researchers found health during the first trimester of pregnancy had a significant influence on the child's cardiovascular risk factors.
The first trimester "embryonic phase" ("a period of rapid development when the heart and other major organs start to form") could have a large influence of the offspring's cardiovascular health, a British Medical Journal (BMJ) news release reported.
The team looked at 1,184 school age children and took into account their size during the first trimester of pregnancy as well as the "age, ethnicity, education, smoking status, body mass index and blood pressure" of the mothers, the news release reported.
Cardiovascular risk factors in the study subjects, including "body mass index, body fat distribution, blood pressure, cholesterol levels and insulin concentrations," were assessed when they were about six years old.
The researchers split the study subjects into fifths based on crown to rump length during the first trimester.
The team found that at age six those who were in the lowest fifth (the smallest fetuses) had the most "fat mass and android fat mass (fat stored around the abdomen), higher diastolic blood pressure and an adverse cholesterol profile," when compared with the highest percentile.
The researchers agree some of their findings may be simple coincidences, but suggests a strong link between cardiovascular function and first trimester growth.
"Further studies are needed to identify the underlying causal biological mechanisms and long term consequences. Future strategies to improve cardiovascular health "may start from early pregnancy onwards or even before conception," the researchers wrote, the news release reported.
"We need a deeper understanding of the strength, nature and mechanisms of the reported associations before rushing to intervene," they said.
Professor Gordon Smith and Catherine Aiken from the University of Cambridge said in an accompanying editorial that the study contributes to a growing body of evidence that fetal growth has a strong influence on health later in life.
