Rashid A, et al. - In the ARIC (Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities) study with 15,792 subjects aged 45 to 64 years at baseline, researchers examined the link between high birth weight and incident heart failure in 9,820 subjects who offered either their birth weight category (low, medium, high) or exact birth weight, after the exclusion of those who were born premature or born a twin. A significantly increased hazard of incident heart failure was linked to high birth weight, independently of traditional risk factors, though no link was seen with myocardial infarction. Also, a trend toward an increased hazard of death was evident in relation to high birth weight.