Evidence map›Paper›PMID 8086868›Full record

Trial reportBMJ (Clinical research ed.)1994

Does early nutrition in infants born before term programme later blood pressure?

A Lucas, R Morley

Open access · greenAbstract readClinical TrialMulticenter StudyRandomized Controlled Trial
In one paragraph

Trial report in BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 1994. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
24citing papers in PubMed, 4 pooled it
8.3field-weighted citation impact, top 2% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

24 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 96 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Donor breast milk versus infant formula for preterm infants: systematic review and meta-analysis.Archives of disease in childhood. Fetal and neonatal edition · 2007
    Pooled it
  4. Pooled it
  5. Trial
  6. Review
  7. The Maternal Capital Hypothesis: Giving Mothers Central Place in Evolutionary Perspectives on Developmental Plasticity and Health.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2025
    Review
  8. Review
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Review
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Safety and efficacy of early amino acids in preterm <28 weeks gestation: prospective observational comparison.Journal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association · 2006
    Article
  17. Review
  18. Dermatoglyphic patterns, very low birth weight, and blood pressure in adolescence.Archives of disease in childhood. Fetal and neonatal edition · 2001
    Article
  19. Article
  20. Factors associated with birth weight in Sweden: the study of men born in 1913.Journal of epidemiology and community health · 1997
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

A LucasMRC Dunn Nutrition Unit, Cambridge.
R Morley
Unité de Nutrition Humaine · FR

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesTo test whether nutrition early in infants' development programmes later blood pressure and whether the reported relation between low birth weight and later high blood pressure is due to poor nutrition or growth before full term.

designProspective randomisation of preterm infants to early diets differing greatly in nutrient content in four parallel multicentre trials, with blinded follow up 7.5-8 years later.

settingNeonatal units at Cambridge, Ipswich, King's Lynn, Norwich, and Sheffield. SUBJECTS: 758 children weighing under 1850 g at birth.

main outcome measureBlood pressure at age of 7.5-8 years.

resultsThere were major differences in nutrient intake from randomised diets (preterm formula v standard formula and preterm formula v donor breast milk; in each case with or without mother's milk), but follow up showed no differences in later blood pressure. Individual subjects showed large variation in protein and energy intakes and in growth performance, including degrees of growth failure seldom seen in utero, but these factors were also unrelated to later blood pressure.

conclusionExtremes of nutritional intake and growth performance in preterm infants do not programme later blood pressure at 7.5-8 years of age. These findings do not support the hypothesis that high blood pressure has early nutritional origins. We suggest that the long term rise in blood pressure reported in individuals who had low birthweight (at full term) is not, as previously speculated, due to poor fetal nutrition or growth as such.

Indexed as

Blood PressureBody WeightChildChild DevelopmentDietEmbryonic and Fetal DevelopmentEnergy IntakeFollow-Up StudiesHumansHypertensionInfant FoodInfant, Low Birth WeightInfant, NewbornInfant Nutritional Physiological PhenomenaInfant, PrematureProspective Studies

Identifiers

PMID8086868
PMCPMC2540867
OpenAlexW2043444424

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.