Lower birth weight is associated with higher sprint performance in female university students

Abstract

Low birth weight has been reported as a risk factor for non-communicable diseases, which can be caused by metabolic dysfunction. Here, we conducted a retrospective study to define the correlation between birth weight and present physical characteristics/fitness in Japanese university students, by gender. The subjects were from among 1,333 healthy university students. They carried out a self-administered questionnaire on birth weight, physical characteristics, and exercise habits, and 8 types of physical fitness tests. We excluded data from subjects that lacked information in their questionnaire and those who were not a full-term single birth. Finally, data of 378 participants (28.4% of all subjects, 116 males and 262 females) were analyzed. We categorized the participants into lower and higher birth weight groups, based on the overall median value calculated for birth weight. The lower birth weight group of males demonstrated lower grip strength; however, there was no significant association after adjustment for height, weight, and exercise habits. The lower birth weight group of females showed higher scores on the 50-meter running test even after the adjustment for physical characteristics and exercise habits. These results suggest that lower birth weight males had a lower grip strength, which was strongly associated with their physical size. In contrast, higher sprint performance was shown to be independent of physical size in lower birth weight females.