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Birthweight and cardiometabolic risk patterns in multiracial children

International Journal of Obesity volume 42, pages 20–27 (2018)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/Objectives:

Prenatal growth, which is widely marked by birthweight, may have a pivotal role in affecting the lifelong risk of cardiometabolic disorders; however, comprehensive evaluation of its relations with childhood cardiometabolic risk patterns and the ethnic and gender disparities in national representative populations is still lacking. The aim of this study was to evaluate the associations between birthweight and comprehensive patterns of cardiometabolic risk in a nationally representative sample of children and adolescents.

Subjects/Methods:

Prospective analyses were performed using data from 28 153 children 0 to 15 years in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 1999 through 2014. We defined childhood cardiometabolic disorders using standard definitions for obesity, high blood pressure, hyperglycemia and dyslipidemia.

Results:

Five birthweight categories <2.5, 2.5–3.0, 3.0–3.5, 3.5–4.2 and ⩾4.2 kg accounted for 8.2%, 17.9%, 35.7%, 27.9% and 10.4% of the population, respectively. In all children, with increasing birthweight, we observed significantly increasing trends of the risk of general and central obesity (P for trend <0.01) and significantly decreasing trends of the risk of high systolic blood pressure (SBP), high HbA1c and low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (P for trend <0.05). The associations were independent of current body mass index (BMI). In addition, we found that the relations of birthweight with high waist circumference in Black children showed U-shape, as well as high SBP in Mexican and Hispanic children. Moreover, we found that the associations of low birthweight with high SBP and low HDL-C appeared to more prominent significant in boys, whereas the inverse association with high HbA1c was more evident in girls.

Conclusions:

Our data indicate that birthweight is significantly related to childhood cardiometabolic risk, independent of current BMI, and the associations exhibit race and gender-specific patterns.

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Acknowledgements

Dr Sun conceptualized and designed the study, contributed to data cleanning and the statistical analysis, drafted the initial manuscript and approved the final manuscript as submitted. Dr Wang, Dr Heianza, Dr Huang and Dr Lv contributed to data cleanning and the statistical analysis, reviewed and revised the manuscript, and approved the final manuscript as submitted. Dr Shang contributed to the second round revision and approved the final manuscript as submitted. Dr Li, Dr Harville, Dr Chen and Dr Fonseca coordinated and supervised the project, critically reviewed the manuscript and approved the final manuscript as submitted. Dr Qi conceptualized and designed the study, contributed to the statistical analysis, critically reviewed the manuscript and approved the final manuscript as submitted. All authors approved the final manuscript as submitted and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work. The study was supported by grants from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (HL071981, HL034594 and HL126024), the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (DK091718, DK100383 and DK078616), the Boston Obesity Nutrition Research Center (DK46200) and United States–Israel Binational Science Foundation Grant2011036. Dr Qi was a recipient of the American Heart Association Scientist Development Award (0730094N).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA

    D Sun, T Wang, Y Heianza, T Huang, S Li, E Harville, W Chen & L Qi

  2. Shanghai Institute of Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases, Rui Jin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China

    T Wang

  3. Department of Pediatrics, Children’s Hospital New Orleans, New Orleans, LA, USA

    X Shang

  4. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing, China

    J Lv

  5. Department of Pediatrics, Section of Endocrinology, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA

    V Fonseca

  6. Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    L Qi

  7. Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    L Qi

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  1. D Sun
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Correspondence to L Qi.

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Sun, D., Wang, T., Heianza, Y. et al. Birthweight and cardiometabolic risk patterns in multiracial children. Int J Obes 42, 20–27 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2017.196

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