Search

Objectives: Pelvic growth may be sensitive to early‐life nutrition, with implications for maternal risk of obstructed labor. However, the "developmental origins" of adult pelvic variability require further investigation. We tested whether adult pelvic dimensions are associated with two components of height, indexing different periods of linear growth: tibia length, a proxy for early postnatal growth, and height‐residual (height regressed on tibia length), a proxy for later growth. We also tested whether adult pelvic dimensions are associated with birth weight, a marker of nutritional investment in utero. Methods: In this cross‐sectional study, data were obtained on 68 nulliparous young women of South Asian ancestry. Pelvic dimensions (bi‐iliac and bi‐acetabular breadth, anteroposterior pelvic inlet and outlet, interspinous and intertuberous diameter) were measured using magnetic resonance imaging. Height and tibia length were measured manually. Birth weight and gestational age were obtained by recall. Multivariable regression models were fitted with a given pelvic dimension regressed on height‐residual, tibia, and birth weight, with the latter adjusted for gestational age. Results: Controlling for birth weight, height‐residual was predictive of bi‐acetabular breadth, bi‐iliac breadth, and the pelvic inlet, while tibia length significantly predicted all dimensions except interspinous diameter. Controlling for the linear growth variables, birth weight was predictive of bi‐iliac breadth only. Conclusions: Markers of linear growth during both early and later development were associated with adult pelvic dimensions, whereas size at birth was poorly predictive. Efforts to reduce stunting in early life may facilitate the attainment of maximum potential growth for both height and the pelvis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The objective of this study was to identify subgroups with distinct fat and fat-free growth patterns in the first 6 months of life and describe predictors of these different patterns.Methods: A total of 510 apparently healthy Ethiopian infants were followed from birth to 6 months of age. Each infant had at least three and up to six repeated measurements of fat and fat-free mass using air-displacement plethysmography. Latent class trajectory analyses were used to categorize infants in groups with distinct body composition patterns.Results: Four distinct fat mass and two fat-free mass growth patterns were identified. Of the infants measured, 5% presented a delayed fat growth pattern and 3% presented a catch-up fat growth pattern involving low birth weight but a significant fat growth velocity from 2.5 to 6 months. A large class had a high fat level at birth and an accelerated fat growth pattern in early infancy. Fat-free growth was represented by two distinct classes with less variability. Catch-up growth was primarily seen in fat mass.Conclusions: We identified distinct patterns of delayed, catch-up, and accelerated fat growth in early infancy. This variability is not detected in regular anthropometric assessment and could be a mechanism linking early growth with later obesity and cardiometabolic risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Native Andean ancestry gives partial protection from reduced birthweight at high altitude in the Andes compared with European ancestry. Whether Andean ancestry is also associated with body proportions and greater postnatal body size at altitude is unknown. Therefore, we tested whether a greater proportion of Andean ancestry is associated with stature and body proportions among Peruvian children at high and low altitude. Methods Height, head circumference, head-trunk height, upper and lower limb lengths, and tibia, ulna, hand and foot lengths, were measured in 133 highland and 169 lowland children aged 6 months to 8.5 years. For highland and lowland groups separately, age-sex-adjusted anthropometry z scores were regressed on the number of indigenous parental surnames as a proxy for Andean ancestry, adjusting for potential confounders (maternal age and education, parity, altitude [highlands only]). Results Among highland children, greater Andean ancestry was negatively associated with stature and tibia, ulna, and lower limb lengths, independent of negative associations with greater altitude for these measurements. Relationships were strongest for tibia length: each additional Andean surname or 1,000 m increase at altitude among highland children was associated with 0.18 and 0.65 z score decreases in tibia length, respectively. Anthropometry was not significantly associated with ancestry among lowland children. Conclusions Greater Andean ancestry is associated with shorter stature and limb measurements at high but not low altitude. Gene-environment interactions between high altitude and Andean ancestry may exacerbate the trade-off between chest dimensions and stature that was proposed previously, though we could not test this directly. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 27:798-806, 2015. © 2015 The Authors American Journal of Human Biology Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Early-life growth patterns predict subsequent disease risk. The ontogenetic development of body composition appears to play a key role in such associations, but details have only recently begun to emerge. Studies in diverse populations consistently associate birthweight with subsequent lean mass. Associations with subsequent adiposity show less consistency, and may be gender-specific, while associations between infant weight gain and subsequent body composition appear to differ systematically between industrialised and developing countries. Existing evidence suggests two primary pathways whereby the body composition development contributes to disease risk. First, poor growth during fetal life and infancy appears permanently to constrain lean mass, thereby constraining metabolic capacity to tolerate a rich diet. Second, rapid catch-up growth and childhood weight gain appear to divert energy disproportionately to adipose issue, particularly in the abdomen, thereby increasing metabolic load. These complementary processes may account for disease risk being greatest in those born small who subsequently become large. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Examines the relationship of between-population variability in birth weight and environmental heat load. Inverse relationship of heat stress with birth weight; Determinant of low birth weight in developing countries; Prediction of heat stress using thermodynamic theory.