Early Growth, Cardiovascular and Renal Development: The Generation R Study
Year: 2013
Type: dissertation
Abstract: __Abstract__ \n \nCardiovascular disease is a major health problem in the adult general population. Epidemiological \nstudies strongly suggest that early life events have an important role for \nthe susceptibility to develop cardiovascular disease in later life. In the 1980’s, Barker and \nOsmond showed that areas of Britain with the highest neonatal mortality rates early \nin the 20th century also had the highest incidence of cardiovascular disease in adults, \nmany decades later1. Birth weight is an important predictor of neonatal mortality. After \nthese observations, many epidemiological studies consistently showed that low birth \nweight is associated with adult health outcomes such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 \ndiabetes and kidney disease. It was also noted that the risk of cardiovascular disease \nwas highest in subjects who show a postnatal catch-up growth after being born with \na low birth weight6. These observations resulted in the “fetal origins of adult disease” \nhypothesis, also currently known as the “Developmental Origins of Health and Disease “ \nHypothesis (DOHaD-hypothesis). This hypothesis states that a suboptimal fetal environment \nleads to developmental adaptations that permanently alter growth, physiology \nand metabolism, with long-term consequences for adult health. More recently, this \nhypothesis has been adapted to a more general “developmental plasticity hypothesis”, \nwhich proposes that an organism may develop in different ways, depending on the \nenvironment it is exposed to. Investigating specific adverse fetal exposures and early \ngrowth may provide new insights in mechanisms underlying the associations of low \nbirth weight with adult disease. Different aspects of early development might be important \nin determining future risk of adult cardiovascular and renal diseases.
Author: Rob Taal
Language: English
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W128972420