Obesity modifies link between birth weight, metabolic phenotypes

Associations between lower birth weight (BW) and adverse metabolic phenotypes are more pronounced in children with obesity, according to a study published in the July issue of eBioMedicine.

Sara Elizabeth Stinson, Ph.D., from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, and colleagues used data from the cross-sectional HOLBAEK Study with 4,263 participants to examine the modifying effect of childhood obesity on the association between BW and a polygenic score (PGS) for BW with cardiometabolic risk in children and adolescents.

The researchers found that BW and a PGS for BW were associated with cardiometabolic risk and plasma protein levels in childhood and adolescence.

The associations between BW and measures of insulin resistance were modified by childhood obesity, including Homeostasis Model Assessment for Insulin Resistance (−0.12 and −0.04 for obesity and normal weight, respectively), c-peptide (−0.11 and −0.02 for obesity and normal weight, respectively), and systolic blood pressure standard deviation score (−0.12 and −0.06 for obesity and normal weight, respectively). The associations between BW and plasma levels of 14 proteins were also modified by childhood obesity.

“This study underlines the importance of early intervention and prevention in the effort to combat the pandemic of obesity and cardiometabolic disease,” the authors write.

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