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The fetal origins of adult disease

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 October 2008

DJP Barker
DJP Barker*
Affiliation:
MRC Environmental Epidemiology Unit, Southampton.
*
Professor DJP Barker MD, PhD, FRCP, FRCOG, Director, MRC Environmental Epidemiology Unit, Southampton General Hospital, Southampton SO9 4XY, UK.
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Extract

Recent studies have shown that babies who are small for dates at birth, or who fail to grow in infancy, have, in adult life, raised blood pressure, impaired glucose tolerance, abnormal serum lipids, raised fibrinogen and high death rates from coronary disease, stroke and obstructive lung disease. This has led to the hypothesis that these diseases are ‘programmed’ in utero in response to an adverse environment.

Type
Articles
Information
Fetal and Maternal Medicine Review , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , May 1994 , pp. 71 - 80
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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