Birth Weight of Offspring and Insulin Resistance in Late Adulthood: Cross Sectional Survey

Overview

Journal BMJ

Specialty General Medicine

Date 2002 Aug 17

PMID 12183306

Citations 25

Authors

Debbie A Lawlor

George Davey Smith

Shah Ebrahim

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the association between birth weight of offspring and mothers' insulin resistance in late adulthood.

Design: Cross sectional survey.

Setting: General practitioner's surgeries in 23 towns in Great Britain.

Participants: 4286 women aged 60-79 years.

Main Outcome Measures: Maternal insulin resistance.

Results: Birth weight of offspring was inversely related to maternal insulin resistance in late adulthood. For each 1 kg higher birth weight of offspring, women had a 15% reduction in the odds of being in the fourth with highest insulin resistance, compared to other fourths (odds ratio 0.85; 95% confidence interval 0.71 to 1.00). This increased to 27% (0.73; 0.60 to 0.90) after adjusting data for potential confounders. A U shaped relation between birth weight of offspring and diabetes in older age was found; women with the lightest and heaviest offspring had the highest prevalence of diabetes.

Conclusions: Birth weight of offspring is inversely related to the mother's insulin resistance in late adulthood, despite the association of glucose intolerance during pregnancy with heavier offspring at birth. Common genetic factors contribute to the relation between birth weight and risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes in adults.

Citing Articles

Cardiovascular risk factors in extended family members and birthweight in offspring.

Shaikh F, Kjollesdal M, Carslake D, Thoresen M, Naess O J Dev Orig Health Dis. 2021; 13(1):83-89.

PMID: 33691829 PMC: 7614283. DOI: 10.1017/S2040174421000076.

Association of Birth Weight With Type 2 Diabetes and Glycemic Traits: A Mendelian Randomization Study.

Huang T, Wang T, Zheng Y, Ellervik C, Li X, Gao M JAMA Netw Open. 2019; 2(9):e1910915.

PMID: 31539074 PMC: 6755534. DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.10915.

Birth weight and type 2 diabetes: A meta-analysis.

Mi D, Fang H, Zhao Y, Zhong L Exp Ther Med. 2017; 14(6):5313-5320.

PMID: 29285058 PMC: 5740598. DOI: 10.3892/etm.2017.5234.

Birth weight in relation to health and disease in later life: an umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses.

Belbasis L, Savvidou M, Kanu C, Evangelou E, Tzoulaki I BMC Med. 2016; 14(1):147.

PMID: 27677312 PMC: 5039803. DOI: 10.1186/s12916-016-0692-5.

Genetic Evidence for Causal Relationships Between Maternal Obesity-Related Traits and Birth Weight.

Tyrrell J, Richmond R, Palmer T, Feenstra B, Rangarajan J, Metrustry S JAMA. 2016; 315(11):1129-40.

PMID: 26978208 PMC: 4811305. DOI: 10.1001/jama.2016.1975.

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