Intergenerational effects on size at birth in South India

Abstract

Several studies have shown that a baby's birthweight correlates with the birthweight and adult size of both its parents, but more strongly with those of its mother, suggesting that both the 'maternal environment' and inherited genes influence size at birth. There are no previous such intergenerational data from India. Holdsworth Memorial Hospital (HMH), Mysore, South India, has preserved birth records containing the birthweight, length and head circumference of all newborns since 1934. We identified 468 mother-offspring and 341 father-offspring pairs born in the hospital. Daughters and sons (born 1990-95) were heavier at birth than their mothers and fathers, respectively, with a mean (SD) increase in birthweight of 121 g (24 g) between the two generations. The birthweight of both parents predicted offspring birthweight equally (mother: regression slope beta = 255 g/kg; father beta = 251 g/kg; P < 0.001 for both). Paternal birth length had a stronger effect than maternal birth length on offspring birth length. The mother's adult body mass index (BMI) had a greater effect than paternal BMI on offspring birthweight (mother: 18 g/kg/m(2); P < 0.001; father: 15 g/kg/m(2); P = 0.04). In a regression model including data for both parents (available for 57 children) this difference was greater (mother: 46 g/kg/m(2); P < 0.001; father: -10 g/kg/m(2); ns). In contrast, paternal height had stronger effects than maternal height on offspring birth length (mother: 0.8 mm/cm; ns; father: 1.5 mm/cm; P < 0.001). In conclusion, size at birth is influenced by a combination of environmental and genetic factors. Both maternal and paternal birthweight correlate with offspring size at birth. Maternal nutritional status (BMI) influences birthweight. Paternal factors appear to contribute to neonatal skeletal size.

The Hispanic Paradox in Twin Pregnancies

“…Physiologic differences in glucose metabolism and/or body build, such as body fat distribution or waist-to-hip ratio may underlie this relationship, as suggested by Kieffer et al (1999) and Scholl et al (2002). There may also be an intergenerational effect, which was not assessed in the current study (Collins et al, 2002;Lawlor et al, 2003;Veena et al, 2004). Hispanic mothers are also not a homogeneous group -a wide range of outcomes have been reported within various Hispanic subgroups (Martin et al, 2003).…”

The “early life” origins of obesity‐related health disorders: New discoveries regarding the intergenerational transmission of developmentally programmed traits in the global cardiometabolic health crisis

“…Consistent with this experimental finding, a recent epidemiological study analyzing birth weight in Norway between 1967 and 2004 found that genetic factors accounted for only 31% of birth weight variation (Lunde et al, 2007), a finding consistent with other estimates of the genetic heritability of for birth weight (Whitfield et al, 2001). In addition, several other population based studies have investigated the relative strength of the relationships between maternal and paternal birth weight and offspring birth weight, and have found a significantly stronger maternal effect (Coutinho et al, 1997;Magnus et al, 2001;Lunde et al, 2007;Kuzawa and Eisenberg, 2012), although a minority of contrary findings have also been reported (Agnihotri et al, 2008;Veena et al, 2004). Consistent with other studies of intergenerational predictors of birth weight, Kuzawa and Eisenberg also found a stronger maternal effect between maternal and offspring birth weight.…”

Intergenerational Transmission of Glucose Intolerance and Obesity by In Utero Undernutrition in Mice

“…While experimental (9,11,38,39) and human (40,41) data show similar paternal transmission patterns of birth weight, population-based studies also indicate that intergenerational aggregation of LBW can also occur through maternal lineages (40,41). Such results may reflect species differences and complex influences on human birth weight (e.g., genetics, maternal size).…”