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Birth weight, childhood growth and abdominal obesity in adult life

International Journal of ObesityPublished 1 January 2002
Diana Kuh, Rebecca Hardy, Nish Chaturvedi, Mej Wadsworth
Citations93
SJR quartileQ1
SJR score1.59
SNIP1.33

TL;DR

A small prenatal inverse effect of fetal growth on adult waist–hip ratio due to a reduced hip size was found and an inverse postnatal effect of childhood growth such that for any given adult body size those who had been lighter in childhood were more at risk of abdominal obesity.

Abstract

This study found a small prenatal inverse effect of fetal growth on adult waist-hip ratio due to a reduced hip size. There was also an inverse postnatal effect of childhood growth such that for any given adult body size those who had been lighter in childhood were more at risk of abdominal obesity. These relationships were independent of childhood socioeconomic circumstances and support the idea that insulin resistance may be linked to low weight in childhood.

Keywords

Medicine