Book of the Month: The Fetal Matrix: Evolution,Development and Disease

Barker D.J. Fetal origins of coronary heart disease. BMJ 1995; 311: 171–4

Gluckman P. , Hanson M. The Fetal Matrix: Evolution, Development and Disease. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004 [257 pp; ISBN 0-521-54235-9 (p/b); £24.99]

Barker D.J. , Winter P.D. , Osmond C. , Margetts B. , Simmonds S.J. Weight in infancy and death from ischaemic heart disease. Lancet 1989; ii: 577–80

Huxley R. , Neil A. , Collins R. Unravelling the fetal origins hypothesis: is there really an inverse association between birthweight and subsequent blood pressure? Lancet 2002; 360: 659–65

Barker D.J. , Osmond C. Infant mortality, childhood nutrition, and ischaemic heart disease in England and Wales. Lancet 1986; i: 1077–81

Huxley R.R. , Neil H.A. Does maternal nutrition in pregnancy and birth weight influence levels of CHD risk factors in adult life? Br J Nutr 2004; 91: 459–68

Huxley R.R. , Owen C.G. , Whincup P.H. , Cook D.G. , Colman S. , Collins R. Birth weight and subsequent cholesterol levels: exploration of ‘fetal origins’ hypothesis. JAMA 2004; 292: 2755–64

Vagero D. , Leon D. Ischaemic heart disease and low birth weight: a test of the fetal-origins hypothesis from the Swedish Twin registry. Lancet 1994; 343: 260–3

Wilkin T.J. , Voss L.D. Metabolic syndrome: maladaptation to a modern world. J R Soc Med 2004; 97: 511–20

Lucas A. , Fewtrell M.S. , Cole T.J. Fetal origins of adult disease—the hypothesis revisited. BMJ 1999; 319: 245–9

Ellison P.T. Evolutionary perspectives on the fetal origins hypothesis. Am J Human Biol 2005; 17: 113–18

Developmental Origins of Health and Disease Division, University of Southampton—School of Medicine. Professor David Barker. [www.som.soton.ac.uk/research/foad/barker.asp]. (Accessed 3 January 2005)

Yusuf S. , Hawken S. , Ounpuu S. . Effect of potentially modifiable risk factors associated with myocardial infarction in 52 countries (the INTERHEART study): case–control study. Lancet 2004; 364: 937–52