A study conducted in Sweden has revealed that children born with low birth weight have a significantly higher risk of stroke in early adulthood.
Researchers from the University of Gothenburg reported that children weighing 3.5 kilograms less than the average at birth have a 21 percent higher risk of stroke.
They further stated that this increased risk was found equally in both men and women, and a rise was observed in both types of stroke, including ischemic stroke (blockage of blood vessels) and hemorrhagic stroke (bleeding in the brain).
The study included data from approximately 770,000 individuals born between 1973 and 1982, of whom 2,252 had experienced a stroke by 2022 during early adulthood.
Experts say that low birth weight individuals are more likely to develop high blood pressure later in life, which is a major cause of stroke. Therefore, birth weight can serve as an important indicator in assessing future health risks.
The research will be presented in May at the European Congress on Obesity to be held in Istanbul.
