Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T03:49:25.142Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The influence of birth weight and genetic factors on lipid levels: a study in adult twins

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 March 2007

Chuluuntulga Tuya ,
William J. Mutch ,
Paul Haggarty ,
Doris M. Campbell ,
Alastair Cumming ,
Kevin Kelly ,
Iain Broom  and
Geraldine McNeill
Chuluuntulga Tuya
Affiliation:
Clinical Biochemistry Department, NHS Grampian, Foresterhill, Aberdeen AB25 2XGUK
William J. Mutch
Affiliation:
Clinical Biochemistry Department, NHS Grampian, Foresterhill, AberdeenUK
Paul Haggarty
Affiliation:
Rowett Research Institute, Greenburn Road, Bucksburn, Aberdeen AB21 9SBUK
Doris M. Campbell
Affiliation:
University of AberdeenDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Foresterhill, Aberdeen AB25 2ZDUK
Alastair Cumming
Affiliation:
University of AberdeenDepartment of Molecular and Cell Biology, Department of Molecular and Cell BiologyUK
Kevin Kelly
Affiliation:
University of AberdeenDepartment of Medical Genetics, Foresterhill, Aberdeen AB25 2ZDUK
Iain Broom
Affiliation:
Clinical Biochemistry Department, NHS Grampian, Foresterhill, AberdeenUK
Geraldine McNeill*
Affiliation:
University of AberdeenDepartment of Environmental and Occupational Medicine, Foresterhill, Aberdeen AB25 2ZDUK
*
*Corresponding author: fax +44 1224 551826, email g.mcneill@abdn.ac.uk
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Twins can be used to investigate the biological basis for observed associations between birth weight and later disease risk, as they experience in utero growth restriction compared with singletons, which can differ in magnitude within twin pairs despite partial or total genetic identity. In the present study, sixty monozygotic and seventy-one dizygotic same-sex twin pairs aged 19–50 years and eighty-nine singleton controls matched for age, gestational age, sex, maternal age and parity were recruited from an obstetric database. Associations between fasting lipid levels and birth weight were assessed by linear regression with adjustment for possible confounding factors. Twins were significantly lighter at birth but were not significantly different in adult height, weight or lipid levels from the singleton controls. There was a significant inverse association between birth weight and both total and LDL-cholesterol levels among singleton controls (−0·53mmol/l per kg (95% CI −0·97, −0·09), P=0·02 and −0·39mmol/l per kg (95% CI −0·76, −0·02), P=0·04, respectively), but there was no significant association between birth weight and lipid levels in either unpaired or within-pair analysis of twins. The results suggest that the in utero growth restriction and early catch-up growth experienced by twins does not increase the risk of an atherogenic lipid profile in adult life.

Keywords

Birth weightLipid levelsTwins
Type
Research Article
Information
British Journal of Nutrition , Volume 95 , Issue 3 , March 2006 , pp. 504 - 510
Copyright
Copyright © The Nutrition Society 2006

References

Barker, DJ, Hales, CN, Fall, CH, Osmond, C, Phipps, K & Clark, PM 1993 Type 2 (non-insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus, hypertension and hyperlipidaemia (syndrome X): relation to reduced fetal growth. Diabetologia 36 62–67.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barker, DJP 1995 Fetal origins of coronary heart disease. BMJ 311 171–174.Google Scholar
Barker, DJPMothers, Babies and Health in Later Life. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone 1998Google Scholar
Barker, DJP 1999 Fetal origins of cardiovascular disease. Ann Med 31 3–6.Google Scholar
Bo, S, Cavallo-Perin, P, Ciccone, G, Scaglione, L & Pagano, G 2001 The metabolic syndrome in twins: a consequence of low birth weight or of being a twin?. Exp Clin Endocrinol Diabetes 109 135–140.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Boekholdt, SM, Kuivenhoven, JA, Hovingh, GK, Jukema, JW, Kastelein, JJ & van Tol, ACETP gene variation: relation to lipid parameters and cardiovascular risk. Review. Curr Opin Lipidol 2004 15 393–398.Google Scholar
Bring, J & Wernroth, L 1999 Inefficient analysis of twin data: is there an association between diabetes and birth weight?. Diabetologia 42 898–899.Google Scholar
Burke, JP, Forsgren, J, Palumbo, PJ, Bailey, KR, Desai, J, Devlin, H & Leibson, CL 2004 Association of birth weight and type 2 diabetes in Rochester, Minnesota. Diabetes Care 27 2512–2513.Google Scholar
Curhan, GC, Chertow, GM, Willett, WC, Spiegelman, D, Colditz, GA, Manson, JE, Speizer, FE & Stampfer, MJ 1996 Birth weight and adult hypertension and obesity in women. Circulation 94 1310–1315.Google Scholar
Eriksson, JG, Forsen, T, Tuomilehto, J, Winter, PD, Osmond, C & Barker, DJ 1999 Catch-up growth in childhood and death from coronary heart disease: longitudinal study. BMJ 318 427–431.Google Scholar
Eriksson, JG, Lindi, VUusitupa, M, Forsen, TJ, Laakso, M, Osmond, C & Barker, DJ 2002 The effects of the Pro12Ala polymorphism of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma2 gene on insulin sensitivity and insulin metabolism interact with size at birth. Diabetes 51 2321–2324.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Forsen, T, Eriksson, JG, Tuomilehto, J, Osmond, C & Barker, DJP 1999 Growth in utero and during childhood among women who develop coronary heart disease: longitudinal study. BMJ 319 1403–1407.Google Scholar
Friedewald, WT, Levy, RI & Fredrickson, DS 1972 Estimation of the concentration of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in plasma, without use of the preparative ultracentrifuge. Clin Chem 18 499–502.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gluckman, PD & Hanson, MA 2004 Maternal constraint of fetal growth and its consequences. Review. Semin Fetal Neonatal Med 9 419–425.Google Scholar
Hattersley, AT & Tooke, JE 1999 The fetal insulin hypothesis: an alternative explanation of the association of low birthweight with diabetes and vascular disease. Lancet 353 1789–1792.Google Scholar
Huxley, R, Owen, CG, Whincup, PH, Cook, DG, Colman, S & Collins, R 2004 Birth weight and subsequent cholesterol levels: exploration of the “fetal origins” hypothesis. JAMA 292 2755–2764.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Huxley, RR, Shiell, AW &Law, CM 2000 The role of size at birth and postnatal catch-up growth in determining systolic blood pressure: a systematic review of the literature. J Hypertens 18 815–831.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ijzerman, RG, Stehouwer, CD, van Weissenbruch, MM, De Geus, EJ & Boomsma, DI 2001 Evidence for genetic factors explaining the association between birth weight and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and possible intrauterine factors influencing the association between birth weight and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol: analysis in twins. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 86 5479–5484.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kannel, WB & Sorlie, P 1979 Some health benefits of physical activity:the Framingham Heart Study. Arch Intern Med 139 857–861.Google Scholar
Keet, MP, Jaroszewicz, AM & Lombard, CJ 1986 Follow-up study of physical growth of monozygous twins with discordant within-pair birth weights. Pediatrics 77 336–344.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Laurén, L, Jarvelin, MR, Elliott, P et al. 2003 Relationship between birthweight and blood lipid concentrations in later life: evidence from the existing literature. Int J Epidemiol 32 862–876.Google Scholar
Loos, RJ, Derom, C, Derom, R & Vlietinck, R 2005 Determinants of birthweight and intrauterine growth in liveborn twins. Paediatr Perinat Epidemiol 19 15–22.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lopiore, E, Nagel, HT, Vandenbussche, FR & Walther, FJ 2003 Long-term neurodevelopmental outcome in twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome. Am J Obstet Gynecol 189 1314–1319.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McMillen, IC & Robinson, JS 2005 Developmental origins of the metabolic syndrome: prediction, plasticity, and programming. Review. Physiol Rev 85 571–633.Google Scholar
McNeill, G, Tuya, C, Campbell, DM, Haggarty, P, Smith, WC, Masson, LF, Cumming, A, Broom, I & Haites, N 2003 Blood pressure in relation to birth weight in twins and singleton controls matched for gestational age. Am J Epidemiol 158 150–155.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Magnus, P 1984 Causes of variation in birth weight: a study of offspring of twins. Clin Genet 25 15–24.Google Scholar
Magnus, P, Bakketeig, LS & Hoffman, HBirth weight of relatives by maternal tendency to repeat small-for-gestational-age (SGA) births in successive pregnancies. Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand 1997 165 Suppl.35–38.Google ScholarPubMed
Martin, RM, Ben-Shlomo, Y, Gunnell, D, Elwood, P, Yarnell, JW & Davey, Smith G 2005 Breast feeding and cardiovascular disease risk factors, incidence, and mortality: the Caerphilly study. J Epidemiol Community Health 59 121–129.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Masson, LF, McNeill, G, Tomany, JO, Simpson, JA, Peace, HS, Wei, L, Grubb, DA & Bolton-Smith, C 2003 Statistical approaches for assessing the relative validity of a food frequency questionnaire: use of correlation coefficients and the kappa statistic. Public Health Nutr 6 313–321.Google Scholar
Neale, MC, Boker, SM, Xie, G & Maes, HHMx: Statistical Modeling 6th edition. Richmond, VA: Virginia Commonwealth University, Department of Psychiatry 2004Google Scholar
Owen, CG, Whincup, PH, Odoki, K, Gilg, JA & Cook, DG 2003 Birth weight and blood cholesterol level: a study in adolescents and systematic review. Pediatrics 111 1081–1089.Google Scholar
Phillips, DI, Davies, MJ & Robinson, JS 2001 Fetal growth and the fetal origins hypothesis in twins – problems and perspectives. Twin Res 4 327–331.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Poulter, NHeart. Global risk of cardiovascular disease Suppl. 2ii2–ii5, ii35–ii37. 2003 89Google Scholar
Purcell, S 2000 Behavioural Genetic Interactive Modules. http://statgen.iop.kcl.ac.uk/bgim/index2.htmlGoogle Scholar
Rich-Edwards, JW, Colditz, GA, Stampfer, MJ, Willett, WC, Gillman, MW, Hennekens, CH, Speizer, FE & Manson, JE 1999 Birthweight and the risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus in adult women. Ann Intern Med 130 278–284.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rich-Edwards, JW, Stampfer, MJ, Manson, JE, Rosner, B, Hankinson, SE, Colditz, GA, Willett, WC & Hennekens, CH 1997 Birth weight and risk of cardiovascular disease in a cohort of women followed up since 1976. BMJ 315 396–400.Google Scholar
Smith, WCS, Tunstall-Pedoe, H, Crombie, IK & Tavendale, R 1989 Concomitants of excess coronary deaths – major risk factor and lifestyle findings from 10, 359 men and women in Scottish Heart Health Study. Scot Med J 34 550–555.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stein, CE, Fall, CH, Kumaran, K, Osmond, C, Cox, V & Barker, DJ 1996 Fetal growth and coronary heart disease in south India. Lancet 348 1269–1273.Google Scholar
Tuya, C, Mutch, W, Broom, J, Campbell, DM & McNeill, G 2003 Size at birth, fasting glucose and insulin levels and insulin resistance in adult twins. Twin Res 6 302–306.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tuya, C, Mutch, WJ, Broom, I & McNeill, G 2005 The effect of birth weight on clottable and intact fibrinogen levels: a twin study. J Thromb Haemost 3 1143–1148.Google Scholar