Birth Weight and Subsequent Risk of Type 2 Diabetes: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract

The "small baby syndrome hypothesis" suggests that an inverse linear relation exists between birth weight and risk of type 2 diabetes. The authors conducted a meta-analysis to examine this association. They included studies that reported odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals (or data with which to calculate them) for the association of type 2 diabetes with birth weight. Fourteen studies involving a total of 132,180 persons were identified. Low birth weight (<2,500 g), as compared with a birth weight of >/=2,500 g, was associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes (odds ratio (OR) = 1.32, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.06, 1.64). High birth weight (>4,000 g), as compared with a birth weight of </=4,000 g, was associated with increased risk to the same extent (OR = 1.27, 95% CI: 1.01, 1.59). Pooled estimates increased further when normal birth weight (2,500-4,000 g) was used as the reference category (low birth weight: OR = 1.47, 95% CI: 1.26, 1.72; high birth weight: OR = 1.36, 95% CI: 1.07, 1.73). Meta-regression and categorical analyses showed a U-shaped relation between birth weight and diabetes risk. These findings indicate that there exists a relation between birth weight and later-life risk of type 2 diabetes which is not linearly inverse but U-shaped.

Adipose tissue dysregulation and metabolic consequences in childhood and adolescent obesity: potential impact of dietary fat quality

“…However, not all studies have associated MHO with prenatal overnutrition. In fact, several (138) although not all (139) observational studies have suggested an association between high birth-weight and T2D risk in adulthood, highlighting that the possible protection associated with accelerated early growth may be somewhat transient. Even within the context of higher adipogenic and lipogenic potential in SAT, buffering capacity can be exceeded by chronic overnutrition, resulting in MUO development (140) .…”

A Life Course Perspective on Health Trajectories and Transitions

“…This is thought to be because birth weight is strongly predictive of later fat-free mass, arguably the largest component of BMI, and to a much lesser extent adiposity (Wells et al 2007). From the start, there was also dispute about whether the relationships with birth weight, and particularly that for type two diabetes, were linear or U-shaped (Harder et al 2007;Whincup et al 2008).…”

Fetal metabolic programming and epigenetic modifications: a systems biology approach

“…Initial epidemiological studies showed that fetal undernutrition during gestation was associated with increased mortality owing to ischemic heart disease in adulthood and higher risk of suffering from the cluster of diseases that integrate the MS (4). Of note, a meta-analysis that included 14 studies and a total of 132,180 individuals showed that low (<2,500 g) and also high birth weight (>4,000 g) are associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes, indicating that birth weight and laterlife risk of type 2 diabetes can be illustrated in a U-shaped relation (2). Nevertheless, whether fetal programming by maternal obesity involves the same mechanisms as that of maternal undernutrition is still unknown.…”

“…L arge amounts of epidemiological data showed that impaired intrauterine growth and adult metabolic and cardiovascular disorders, including coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and insulin (INS) resistance, are strongly associated (1)(2)(3)(4). Actually, the first exploration of a putative connection between environmental influence in early life and the risk of cardiovascular disease in adulthood was done by David Barker and coworkers, who followed-up a cohort of 499 men and women born in Preston (Lancashire, UK) during [1935][1936][1937][1938][1939][1940][1941][1942][1943], and observed that as adults the highest blood pressures occurred in people who had been small babies with large placentas (5).…”