Intrauterine and life course factors in the aetiology of adult cardiovascular disease.

International comparisons of age-adjusted coronary heart disease mortality show the high rates in the eastern and northern Europe, and northern Finland belongs to the areas with the highest rates. This stresses the importance of further studies on the determinants of the disease in this area. There is growing evidence to suggest that patterns of early growth and other life course factors play an important role in the origins and development of cardiovascular disease (CVD), but understanding the processes which mediate these effects is limited. Low birth weight and some other birth measures are related to increased CVD mortality, hypertension and type 2 diabetes, even though inconsistencies between and within the studies exist. With the present available evidence there is a need to address the key issues of possible confounding of perinatal and early life measures with those in later life in relation to the CVD risk. There is a need to replicate studies and establish new ones by assembling cohorts where indicators of prenatal and postnatal growth have been previously recorded drawn from different populations living under different conditions.