George’s Capillary Rarefaction Offspring Study, G-CROS
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The Role Of Capillary Rarefaction In The Pathogenesis Of Essential Hypertension: Insights From Studies In New Born Infants. George’s Capillary Rarefaction Offspring Study, G-CROS
IRAS ID
111962
Contact name
Tarek Francis Antonios
Contact email
Research summary
High blood pressure (hypertension) affects 1 in 3 adults in the UK but its cause is not known. Many studies have found that babies born with low birth weight, less than 2.5kg (or 5.5Ib) are more likely to have high blood pressure later in life. The reason for this association is not understood. We previously found that the number of small blood vessels called capillaries is reduced in the skin of adults with high blood pressure compared to those with normal blood pressure. Also persons with history of low birth weight were found to have smaller number of blood vessels in their childhood. We recently found that low birth weight babies have higher number of capillaries in their skin at birth suggesting that the decrease in capillary numbers occurs after birth. We suspect that low birth weight babies lose their capillaries during the first year of life due to increased availability of nutrition. Therefore we want to study the capillaries in low birth weight babies and small for gestational age babies (smaller size babies) and compare them with normal birth weight babies during the first year of life. We will use a method called “Capillary Microscopy”, which is an entirely painless and non-invasive technique and poses no harm or risk to babies. The hand-held microscope shines a green light to the skin and we use a connected camera to take pictures and video clips. We plan to measure the capillaries on 1st day, 3rd month, 6th month and 12th month of age. We will obtain 1ml of blood sample and urine sample from babies at each visit. We will also seek consent from parents to follow the babies throughout their childhood and into their adulthood to try to find out who will be at risk of developing hypertension.
REC name
London - Dulwich Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/LO/0690
Date of REC Opinion
4 Jun 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion