4.7 Article

Metabolic signatures of birthweight in 18 288 adolescents and adults

Journal

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY
Volume 45, Issue 5, Pages 1539-1550

Publisher

OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1093/ije/dyw255

Keywords

Fetal programming; metabolic signatures; metabolomics; adiposity; fatty acids; amino acids

Funding

  1. University of Oulu, Finland
  2. Sigrid Juselius Foundation
  3. Novo Nordisk Foundation
  4. Yrjo Jahnsson Foundation
  5. Finnish Diabetes Research Foundation
  6. Finnish Medical Foundation
  7. Paulo Foundation
  8. Biocenter Oulu, Finland
  9. UK Medical Research Council via the University of Bristol Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) [MC_UU_12013/1, MC_UU_12013/5]
  10. Academy of Finland [286284, 134309, 126925, 121584, 124282, 129378, 117787, 41071]
  11. Finnish Foundation for Cardiovascular Research
  12. Turku University Central Hospital Medical Fund
  13. Paavo Nurmi Foundation
  14. Juho Vainio Foundation
  15. Finnish Cultural Foundation
  16. Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation
  17. Academy of Finland
  18. University Hospital Oulu
  19. Biocenter Oulu
  20. University of Oulu
  21. European Commission (EURO-BLCS) [QLG1-CT-2000-01643, HEALTH-F4-2007-201413, 277849]
  22. EU H-PHC [633595]
  23. DynaHEALTH
  24. NHLBI [5R01HL08767902, 1RL1MH083268-01]
  25. NIH/NIMH [5R01MH63706:02]
  26. Stanley Foundation
  27. UK Medical Research Council
  28. Wellcome Trust [102215/2/13/2]
  29. US National Institute of Health [R01 DK10324]
  30. Wellcome Trust
  31. European Research Council [669545]
  32. UK National Institute for Health Research [NF-SI-0166-10196]
  33. University of Bristol
  34. UK Medical Research Council [MC_ UU_ 12013/1, MC_ UU_ 12013/5]
  35. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism [R37-AA12502, R01-AA09203, K05-AA00145]
  36. MRC [MC_UU_12013/5, MC_UU_12013/1] Funding Source: UKRI
  37. Medical Research Council [MC_UU_12013/1, MC_UU_12013/5] Funding Source: researchfish
  38. Novo Nordisk Fonden [NNF15OC0016362, NNF12OC1016374, NNF15OC0015998] Funding Source: researchfish

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Background: Lower birthweight is associated with increased susceptibility to cardiometabolic diseases in adulthood, but the underlying molecular pathways are incompletely understood. We examined associations of birthweight with a comprehensive metabolic profile measured in adolescents and adults. Methods: High-throughput nuclear magnetic resonance metabolomics and biochemical assays were used to quantify 87 circulating metabolic measures in seven cohorts from Finland and the UK, comprising altogether 18 288 individuals (mean age 26 years, range 15-75). Metabolic associations with birthweight were assessed by linear regression models adjusted for sex, gestational age and age at blood sampling. The metabolic associations with birthweight were compared with the corresponding associations with adult body mass index (BMI). Results: Lower birthweight adjusted for gestational age was adversely associated with cardiometabolic biomarkers, including lipoprotein subclasses, fatty acids, amino acids and markers of inflammation and impaired liver function (P < 0.0015 for 46 measures). Associations were consistent across cohorts with different ages at metabolic profiling, but the magnitudes were weak. The pattern of metabolic deviations associated with lower birthweight resembled the metabolic signature of higher adult BMI (R-2 = 0.77) assessed at the same time as the metabolic profiling. The resemblance indicated that 1 kg lower birthweight is associated with similar metabolic aberrations as caused by 0.92 units higher BMI in adulthood. Conclusions: Lower birthweight adjusted for gestational age is associated with adverse biomarker aberrations across multiple metabolic pathways. Coherent metabolic signatures between lower birthweight and higher adult adiposity suggest that shared molecular pathways may potentially underpin the metabolic deviations. However, the magnitudes of metabolic associations with birthweight are modest in comparison to the effects of adiposity, implying that birthweight is only a weak indicator of the metabolic risk profile in adulthood.

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