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  • Clinical Research Article
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Early life factors and structural brain network in children with overweight/obesity: The ActiveBrains project

Pediatric Research (2023)Cite this article

Abstract

Background

The aims of this study were to investigate the association of early life factors, including birth weight, birth length, and breastfeeding practices, with structural brain networks; and to test whether structural brain networks associated with early life factors were also associated with academic performance in children with overweight/obesity (OW/OB).

Method

96 children with OW/OB aged 8-11 years (10.03 ± 1.16) from the ActiveBrains project were included. Early life factors were collected from birth records and reported by parents as weight, height, and months of breastfeeding. T1-weighted images were used to identify structural networks using a non-negative matrix factorization (NNMF) approach. Academic performance was evaluated by the Woodcock-Muñoz standardized test battery.

Results

Birth weight and birth length were associated with seven networks involving the cerebellum, cingulate gyrus, occipital pole, and subcortical structures including hippocampus, caudate nucleus, putamen, pallidum, nucleus accumbens, and amygdala. No associations were found for breastfeeding practices. None of the networks linked to birth weight and birth length were linked to academic performance.

Conclusions

Birth weight and birth length, but not breastfeeding, were associated with brain structural networks in children with OW/OB. Thus, early life factors are related to brain networks, yet a link with academic performance was not observed.

Impact

  • Birth weight and birth length, but not breastfeeding, were associated with several structural brain networks involving the cerebellum, cingulate gyrus, occipital pole, and subcortical structures including hippocampus, caudate, putamen, pallidum, accumbens and amygdala in children with overweight/obesity, playing a role for a normal brain development.

  • Despite no academic consequences, other behavioral consequences should be investigated. Interventions aimed at improving optimal intrauterine growth and development may be of importance to achieve a healthy brain later in life.

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Fig. 1: Structural brain network associated to birth weight and birth length after FDR correction.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available due to the participant consent form but are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all the families participating in the ActiveBrains. We also acknowledge everyone who helped with the data collection and all of the members involved in the field-work for their effort, enthusiasm, and support. This work is part of Ph.D. Thesis conducted in the Biomedicine Doctoral Studies of the University of Granada, Spain.

Funding

This study was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (DEP2013-47540, DEP2016-79512-R, and DEP2017-91544-EXP), the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Commission (No 667302) and the Alicia Koplowitz Foundation. This study was partially funded by the UGR Research and Knowledge Transfer Fund (PPIT) 2016, Excellence Actions Program. Units of Scientific Excellence; Scientific Unit of Excellence on Exercise and Health (UCEES) and by the Regional Government of Andalusia, Regional Ministry of Economy, Knowledge, Entreprises and University and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), ref. SOMM17/6107/UGR. In addition, this study was further supported by the SAMID III network, RETICS, funded by the PN I + D + I 2017–2021 (Spain). P.S.-U. is supported by a grant from ANID/BECAS Chile/72180543 and though a Margarita Salas grant from the Spanish Ministry Universities. MR-A was supported by the Alicia Koplowitz Foundation. AVG is funded by an Australian NHMRC Investigator Leadership Grant (2009464). I.E.-C. is supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (RTI2018-095284-J-100) and the Ministry of Science and Innovation (RyC2019-027287-1).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physical Education and Sports, Faculty of Sport Sciences, Sport and Health University Research Institute (iMUDS), University of Granada, Granada, Spain

    Patricio Solis-Urra, Francisco B. Ortega & Irene Esteban-Cornejo

  2. Servicio de Medicina Nuclear, Hospital Universitario Virgen de las Nieves, 18014, Granada, España

    Patricio Solis-Urra

  3. Faculty of Education and Social Sciences, Universidad Andres Bello, Viña del Mar, 2531015, Chile

    Patricio Solis-Urra

  4. Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus MC University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands

    Maria Rodriguez-Ayllon

  5. Department of Personality, Assessment & Psychological Treatment, University of Granada, Granada, Spain

    Juan Verdejo-Román

  6. Mind, Brain and Behavior Research Center (CIMCYC), University of Granada, Granada, Spain

    Juan Verdejo-Román

  7. Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Kirk I. Erickson

  8. AdventHealth Research Institute, Neuroscience, Orlando, FL, USA

    Kirk I. Erickson

  9. Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Antonio Verdejo-García

  10. School of Psychology, University of Granada, Campus de Cartuja s/n, 18071, Granada, Spain

    Andrés Catena

  11. Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland

    Francisco B. Ortega

  12. Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain

    Francisco B. Ortega & Irene Esteban-Cornejo

  13. Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria ibs.GRANADA, Granada, Spain

    Irene Esteban-Cornejo

Authors
  1. Patricio Solis-Urra
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  8. Irene Esteban-Cornejo
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Contributions

P.S.-U. was involved in the conception and design of the paper, analysis, interpretation of data, and drafting the manuscript. I.E.-C and F.B.O. were involved in the conception and design of the paper/project, interpretation of data, investigation (experiments), and critical revision. M.R.-A., J.V.-R., K.I.E., A.V.-G., and A.C. were involved in critical revision. All authors have approved the final version of the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Patricio Solis-Urra or Irene Esteban-Cornejo.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The study was approved by the Committee for Research Involving Human Subjects at the University of Granada (Reference: 848, February 2014). All parents were informed about the study objective and written informed consent following the Declaration of Helsinki.

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Solis-Urra, P., Rodriguez-Ayllon, M., Verdejo-Román, J. et al. Early life factors and structural brain network in children with overweight/obesity: The ActiveBrains project. Pediatr Res (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-023-02923-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-023-02923-5

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