Journal
PAEDIATRIC AND PERINATAL EPIDEMIOLOGY
Volume 31, Issue 4, Pages 284-292Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/ppe.12366
Keywords
body height; child; cohort; growth; prospective; type 2 diabetes mellitus
Funding
- European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme [281419]
- European Union's Horizon research and innovation programme, Dyna-HEALTH [633595]
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Background Short adults have an increased risk of type 2 diabetes. Although adult height results from childhood growth, the effects of height and growth trajectories during childhood are sparsely investigated. We investigated sex-specific associations between childhood height, growth and adult type 2 diabetes, including potential influences of birthweight and childhood body mass index (BMI). Methods We followed 292827 individuals, born 1930-83, from the Copenhagen School Health Records Register in national registers for type 2 diabetes (11548 men; 7472 women). Weights and heights were measured at ages 7-13 years. Hazard ratios (HR) of type 2 diabetes (age >= 30years) were estimated without and with adjustment for birthweight and BMI. Results In men, associations between height and type 2 diabetes changed from inverse for below-average heights at age 7 years to positive for above-average heights at 13 years. No consistent associations were observed among women. These associations were not affected by birthweight. After adjustment for BMI, below-average childhood heights were inversely associated with type 2 diabetes among men (HR range: 0.91-0.93 per z-score) but above-average heights were not. Among women, after adjustment for BMI, below- and above-average heights in childhood were inversely associated with type 2 diabetes (HR range: 0.91-0.95). Greater height growth from 7 to 13 years was positively associated with type 2 diabetes in men and women. Conclusions After adjustment for BMI, short childhood height at all ages and greater growth during childhood are associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, suggesting that this period of life warrants mechanistic investigations.
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