Early growth and adult health: focus on blood pressure, glucose tolerance status and body composition
Year: 2008
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Background.Theory of developmental origins of adult health and disease proposes that experiences during critical periods of early development may have consequences on health throughout a lifespan.Circumstances in utero or during infancy may induce changes in body size and structure, metabolism, hormone secretion and gene expression.These changes may serve as advantageous adaptations aiming at better survival if environmental conditions, such as nutrient availability, remain as predicted in early life.If the predictions, however, mismatch with reality, these adaptations may lead to increased susceptibility to disturbances in adult health.Low birth weight in subjects born at term is a widely used crude indicator of adjustments during fetal life that are unfavourable in an affluent society.The aim of these studies was to characterize the associations between early growth and some components of the metabolic syndrome cluster, and factors that may contribute to and interact with these associations. Subjects and methods.Participants of these studies belong to clinically examined subsets of two epidemiological cohorts with data on birth measurements and, for the younger cohort, on serial recordings of weight and height during childhood.They were born as singletons between 1924-33 and 1934-44 in the Helsinki University Central Hospital, and 500 and 2003 of them, respectively, attended clinical studies at the age of 65-75 and 56-70 years, respectively.Their clinical examinations included an oral glucose tolerance test, blood pressure (BP) measurements, an analysis of body composition by bioelectrical impedance, questionnaires on medication and exercise habits, and determination of the Pro12Ala polymorphism of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-Ȗ2 (PPARȖ2) gene.Results.In the 65-75 year old men and women, the inverse relationship between birth weight and systolic BP was confined to people who had established hypertension.Among them a 1-kg increase in birthweight was associated with a 6.4-mmHg (95% CI: 1.0 to 11.9) decrease in systolic BP.This inverse relationship was further confined to people with the prevailing Pro12Pro polymorphism of the PPARȖ2 gene (9.3 mmHg/kg, 95% CI: 2.1-16.4).Low birth weight was related to the use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors/angiotensin-receptor blockers (ACEI/ARB, p=0.03).Again, this association interacted significantly with the PPARȖ2 gene polymorphism, the carriers of Keywords: birth weight, blood pressure, body composition, cohort studies, developmental origins, epidemiology, exercise, insulin resistance, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-Ȗ2 gene polymorphism, type 2 diabetes
Author: Hilkka Ylihärsilä
Language: English
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: Medical Research Council
OpenAlex ID: W1507327268