Maternal age at childbirth is associated with offspring insulin sensitivity: a cross-sectional study in adult male siblings

SummaryObjective Maternal age at childbirth is increasing worldwide, but studies investigating the consequences of this trend on offspring metabolic health are scarce. We investigated the associations of maternal age at childbirth with metabolic outcomes in adult male siblings. Methods We used data from 586 men aged 25–45 participating in a cross-sectional, population-based sibling-pair study, including maternal age at childbirth and offspring birthweight, adult weight, height, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA)-derived body composition, blood pressure, and total cholesterol, glucose and insulin levels from fasting serum samples. Insulin sensitivity was evaluated using the homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR). Results Maternal age at childbirth was 27·1 ± 4·7 years and was inversely associated with glucose levels (β = −0·10, P = 0·022) and HOMA-IR (β = −0·06, P = 0·065) in age- and body composition-adjusted analyses. Moreover, sons of younger (aged