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Preschool children born moderately preterm have increased waist circumference at two years of age despite low body mass index
Author(s) -
Roswall J,
Karlsson AK,
Allvin K,
Tangen G Almqvist,
Bergman S,
Niklasson A,
Alm B,
Dahlgren J
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
acta paediatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/j.1651-2227.2012.02819.x
Subject(s) - medicine , waist , body mass index , gestational age , circumference , pediatrics , cohort , population , small for gestational age , cohort study , obstetrics , pregnancy , geometry , mathematics , environmental health , biology , genetics
Aim: To investigate the development of waist circumference (WC) in preschool children born preterm compared with a population‐based reference. Background: Children born preterm are reported to be insulin resistant, despite being lean during early childhood. We hypothesize that the mechanism is through increased visceral adiposity. Methods: Data from 4446 preschool children (2169 girls/2277 boys) born in 2001–2006 from a population‐based study were compared with longitudinal measurements of body mass index (BMI) and WC from a cohort of 152 children (64 girls/88 boys) born moderately preterm in 2002–2004 (gestational age, 32–37 weeks). Results: In the preterm children, the mean WC was 2.8 cm larger compared with the reference group (p < 0.001) at 2 years of age but not at 5 years of age. There was no significant difference in the mean BMI at 2 years of age. The preterm group was significantly leaner at 5 years of age, with a mean BMI of 15.13 compared with 15.98 in the reference group (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Children born moderately preterm present as lean during early childhood but have an increased waist circumference in infancy, pointing towards a change in fat distribution with more abdominal fat. This may have implications for their metabolic status.