Birth Weight and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, Cardiovascular Disease, and Hypertension in Adults: A Meta‐Analysis of 7 646 267 Participants From 135 Studies

Abstract

Background Low birth weight has been associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, and hypertension, but the risk at high birth weight levels remains uncertain. This systematic review and meta‐analysis aimed to clarify the shape of associations between birth weight and aforementioned diseases in adults and assessed sex‐specific risks. Methods and Results We systematically searched PubMed, EMBASE , and Web of Science for studies published between 1980 and October 2016. Studies of birth weight and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2 DM ), cardiovascular disease ( CVD ), and hypertension were included. Random‐effects models were used to derive the summary relative risks and corresponding 95% confidence intervals.We identified 49 studies with 4 053 367 participants assessing the association between birth weight and T2 DM , 33 studies with 5 949 477 participants for CVD , and 53 studies with 4 335 149 participants for hypertension and high blood pressure. Sex‐specific binary analyses showed that only females had an increased risk of T2 DM and CVD at the upper tail of the birth weight distribution. While categorical analyses of 6 birth weight groups and dose‐response analyses showed J‐shaped associations of birth weight with T2 DM and CVD , the association was inverse with hypertension. The lowest risks for T2 DM , CVD , and hypertension were observed at 3.5 to 4.0, 4.0 to 4.5, and 4.0 to 4.5 kg, respectively. Conclusions These findings indicate that birth weight is associated with risk of T2 DM and CVD in a J‐shaped manner and that this is more pronounced among females.

Longer duration of breastfeeding is associated with lower BMI among individuals aged 8-49 months in Poland.

“…In other investigations which tackle the problem of maternal education impact on the offspring BMI the results were similar -the better educated mothers the lower BMI of their offspring [11,17,18]. In the case of birth body parameters we presumed that higher birth body weight is connected with higher BMI values in later stages of life, since 4-56 months of life to adulthood [11,13,14,19].…”

Foetal and childhood exposure to famine and the risks of cardiometabolic conditions in adulthood: A systematic review and meta‐analysis of observational studies

“…Furthermore, other factors (ie, obesity, ageing, and physical inactivity) are also thought to be important in the timing of the onset and severity of the outcomes . As mentioned, epidemiological evidence suggests that low birth weight, a surrogate marker of prenatal undernutrition, predicts the increased risks of several cardiometabolic conditions later in life; these associations became stronger if low birthweight was combined with a high adult BMI, postnatal compensatory growth, or unhealthy lifestyle factors (ie, smoking, low physical activity, and poor diet), suggesting that the highest risks for cardiometabolic conditions were experienced by those with low metabolic capacity but high metabolic demand . Similarly, the findings of subgroup analyses indicated the potential mediation effects of certain factors in later life, showing that adjustment for age, alcohol, smoking, BMI, or physical activity attenuated or nullified the observed associations in some analyses.…”

“…However, if the individuals are subsequently exposed to adequate nutrition or overnutrition in later life, these adaptive responses may increase susceptibility to the development of cardiometabolic conditions in adulthood . Indeed, epidemiological evidence has linked low birth weight, marker indicative of foetal undernutrition, to susceptibility to type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), metabolic syndrome, hypertension, and coronary heart disease later in life. In addition to maternal and foetal nutritional status, low birthweight could also be an indicator of other prenatal factors, such as maternal age, obstetric complications, chronic maternal conditions, maternal body composition, smoking, pollution, and drug use .…”

Causal Association Between Birth Weight and Atrial Fibrillation: Evidence from a Two-Sample Mendelian Randomization Analysis

“…[9] Since then, multiple studies have con rmed an established risk of low weight at birth on cardiovascular diseases in adulthood, such as coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction, type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypertension. [9][10][11][12][13] However, only four previous studies have assessed the potential association between BW and the risk of AF, with con icting results. [14][15][16][17] The Women's Health Study of 27,982 women, including 735 AF cases during a median follow-up of 14.5 years, indicated that BW was signi cantly associated with the incident AF among women.…”

“…[9][10][11] In addition, numerous studies have suggested that BW is also associated with several cardiovascular risk factors such as type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypertension. [12,13] However, it remains inconclusive whether BW is associated with the risk of AF. To our knowledge, only four previous studies have explored the association between BW and AF, with discordant results.…”