Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-15T23:24:56.633Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Investigating the relationship between prenatal growth and postnatal outcomes: a systematic review of the literature

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 June 2013

T. Norris  and
N. Cameron
T. Norris*
Affiliation:
Centre for Global Health and Human Development, School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK
N. Cameron
Affiliation:
Human Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK
*
*Address for correspondence: T. Norris, Centre for Global Health and Human Development, School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough LE11 3TU, UK. (Email [email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Theories regarding the relationship between pre- and postnatal growth and programming of health have been based on characteristics at birth, with little or no reference to the patterns of growth occurring in utero. Review of the literature to identify studies using ultrasonographically obtained fetal dimensions to track prenatal growth and relate these patterns of growth to postnatal anthropometry and cardiovascular and metabolic risk factors. Review of Medline, Scopus and Proquest for studies reporting on ultrasonographically derived estimates of fetal growth and their association with postnatal anthropometry, body composition or cardiovascular and metabolic risk factors. Quality of papers were assessed using the method developed by Downs and Black. Twenty-nine studies met the inclusion criteria, with a mean score of high quality. Twenty of the studies had follow-up in infancy, five in childhood, three in adolescence and one in adulthood. The associations observed suggest that centile tracking may occur early in pregnancy though whether this is as early as the first trimester is uncertain. The second trimester may be a critical period for the programming of blood pressure and abdominal circumference may be the most sensitive fetal dimension to indicate any programming.

Keywords

DOHaDfetalpostnatalprogrammingultrasound
Type
Review
Information
Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease , Volume 4 , Issue 6 , December 2013 , pp. 434 - 441
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and the International Society for Developmental Origins of Health and Disease 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Barker, D, Martyn, C, Osmond, C, Hales, C, Fall, C. Growth in utero and serum cholesterol concentrations in adult life. BMJ. 1993; 307, 1524–1527.Google Scholar
2.Barker, DJP, Godfrey, KM, Gluckman, PD, et al. Fetal nutrition and cardiovascular disease in adult life. Lancet. 1993; 341, 938–941.Google Scholar
3.Martyn, CN, Meade, TW, Stirling, Y, Barker, DJP. Plasma concentrations of fibrinogen and factor VII in adult life and their relation to intra-uterine growth. Br J Haematol. 1995; 89, 142–146.Google Scholar
4.Martyn, CN, Barker, DJP, Osmond, C. Mothers’ pelvic size, fetal growth, and death from stroke and coronary heart disease in men in the UK. Lancet. 1996; 348, 264–1268.Google Scholar
5.Curhan, G, Willett, W, Rimm, E, et al. Birth weight and adult hypertension, diabetes mellitus and obesity in US men. Circulation. 1996; 94, 3246–3250.Google Scholar
6.Rich-Edwards, JW, Stampfer, MJ, Manson, JE, et al. Birth weight and risk of cardiovascular disease in a cohort of women followed up since 1976. BMJ. 1997; 315, 396–400.Google Scholar
7.Silverman, B, Rizzo, T, Cho, N, Metzger, B. Long-term effects of the intrauterine environment. The Northwestern University Diabetes in Pregnancy Center. Diabetes Care. 1998; 21, 42–149.Google Scholar
8.Stern, M, Bartley, M, Duggirala, R, Bradshaw, B. Birth weight and the metabolic syndrome: thrifty phenotype or thrifty genotype? Diabetes Metab Res Rev. 2000; 16, 88–93.Google Scholar
9.Lawlor, DA, Ronalds, G, Clark, H, Smith, GD, Leon, DA. Birth weight is inversely associated with incident coronary heart disease and stroke among individuals born in the 1950s: findings from the Aberdeen Children of the 1950s prospective cohort study. Circulation. 2005; 112, 1414–1418.Google Scholar
10.Low, FM, Gluckman, PD, Hanson, MA. Developmental plasticity, epigenetics and human health. Evol Biol. 2012; 39, 650–665.Google Scholar
11.Cameron, N. Human Growth and Development, 2002. Academic Press: New York.Google Scholar
12.Downs, SH, Black, N. The feasibility of creating a checklist for the assessment of the methodological quality both of randomised and non-randomised studies of health care interventions. J Epidemiol Community Health. 1998; 52, 377–384.Google Scholar
13.Jaddoe, VW, Mackenbach, JP, Moll, HA, et al. The Generation R study: design and cohort profile. Eur J Epidemiol. 2006; 21, 475–484.Google Scholar
14.Vielwerth, SE, Jensen, RB, Larsen, T, et al. The effect of birthweight upon insulin resistance and associated cardiovascular risk factors in adolescence is not explained by fetal growth velocity in the third trimester as measured by repeated ultrasound fetometry. Diabetologia. 2008; 51, 1483–1492.Google Scholar
15.Ay, L, Hokken-Koelega, A, Mook-Kanamori, D, et al. Tracking and determinants of subcutaneous fat mass in early childhood: the Generation R study. Int J Obes. 2008; 32, 1050–1059.Google Scholar
16.Beltrand, J, Nicolescu, R, Kaguelidou, F, et al. Catch-up growth following fetal growth restriction promotes rapid restoration of fat mass but without metabolic consequences at one year of age. Plos One. 2009; 4, e5343.Google Scholar
17.Durmuş, B, Mook-Kanamori, D, Holzhauer, S, et al. Growth in foetal life and infancy is associated with abdominal adiposity at the age of 2 years: the Generation R study. Clin Endocrinol. 2010; 72, 633–640.Google Scholar
18.Ay, L, Van Houten, VAA, Steegers, EAP, et al. Fetal and postnatal growth and body composition at 6 months of age. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2009; 94, 2023–2030.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
19.Pilgaard, K, Hammershaimb, MT, Grunnet, L, et al. Differential nongenetic impact of birth weight versus third-trimester growth velocity on glucose metabolism and magnetic resonance imaging abdominal obesity in young healthy twins. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2011; 96, 2835–2843.Google Scholar
20.Harvey, NC, Mahon, PA, Robinson, SM, et al. Different indices of fetal growth predict bone size and volumetric density at 4 years of age. J Bone Miner Res. 2010; 25, 920–927.Google Scholar
21.Jensen, RB, Vielwerth, S, Frystyk, J, et al. Fetal growth velocity, size in early life and adolescence, and prediction of bone mass: association to the GH-IGF axis. J Bone Miner Res. 2008; 23, 439–446.Google Scholar
22.Ay, L, Jaddoe, VWV, Hofman, A, et al. Foetal and postnatal growth and bone mass at 6 months: the Generation R study. Clin Endocrinol. 2011; 74, 181–190.Google Scholar
23.Cacciari, E, Salardi, S, David, C, et al. Is statural growth predictable in utero? Follow-up from the second trimester of gestation to the 8th year of life. JPEM. 2000; 13, 381–386.Google Scholar
24.Mook-Kanamori, D, Durmuş, B, Sovio, U, et al. Fetal and infant growth and the Risk of obesity during early childhood: the Generation R study. Eur J Endocrinol. 2011; 165, 623–630.Google Scholar
25.Mook-Kanamori, D, Steegers, EAP, Eilers, PH, et al. Risk factors and outcomes associated with first-trimester fetal growth restriction. JAMA. 2010; 303, 527–534.Google Scholar
26.Larsen, T, Greisen, G, Petersen, S. Intrauterine growth correlation to postnatal growth – influence of risk factors and complications in pregnancy. Early Hum Dev. 1997; 47, 157–165.Google Scholar
27.Cosmi, E, Visentin, S, Fanelli, T, Mautone, AJ, Zanardo, V. Aortic intima media thickness in fetuses and children with intrauterine growth restriction. Obstet Gynecol. 2009; 114, 1109–1114.Google Scholar
28.Rückinger, S, Beyerlein, A, Jacobsen, G, von Kries, R, Vik, T. Growth in utero and body mass index at age 5 years in children of smoking and non-smoking mothers. Early Hum Dev. 2010; 86, 773–777.Google Scholar
29.Thame, M, Osmond, C, Wilks, RJ, et al. Blood pressure is related to placental volume and birth weight. Hypertension. 2000; 35, 662–667.Google Scholar
30.Gurrin, LC, Blake, KV, Evans, SF, Newnham, JP. Statistical measures of foetal growth using linear mixed models applied to the foetal origins hypothesis. Stat Med. 2001; 20, 3391–3409.Google Scholar
31.Blake, KV, Gurrin, LC, Beilin, LJ, et al. Prenatal ultrasound biometry related to subsequent blood pressure in childhood. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2002; 56, 713–718.Google Scholar
32.van Houten, VAA, Steegers, EAP, Witteman, JCM, et al. Fetal and postnatal growth and blood pressure at the age of 2 years: the Generation R study. J Hypertens. 2009; 27, 152–1157.Google Scholar
33.Zanardo, V, Fanelli, T, Weiner, G, et al. Intrauterine growth restriction is associated with persistent aortic wall thickening and glomerular proteinuria during infancy. Kidney Int. 2011; 80, 119–123.Google Scholar
34.Geelhoed, JJM, Steegers, EAP, van Osch-Gevers, L, et al. Cardiac structures track during the first 2 years of life and are associated with fetal growth and hemodynamics: the Generation R study. Am Heart J. 2009; 158, 71–77.Google Scholar
35.Geelhoed, JJM, Verburg, BO, Nauta, J, et al. Tracking and determinants of kidney size from fetal life until the age of 2 years: the Generation R study. Am J Kidney Dis. 2009; 53, 248–258.Google Scholar
36.Vik, T, Jacobsen, G, Vatten, L, Bakketeig, LS. Pre- and post-natal growth in children of women who smoked in pregnancy. Early Hum Dev. 1996; 45, 245–255.Google Scholar
37.Hackshaw, A, Rodeck, C, Boniface, S. Maternal smoking in pregnancy and birth defects: a systematic review based on 173,687 malformed cases and 11.7 million controls. Hum Reprod Update. 2011; 17, 589–604.Google Scholar
38.Mook-Kanamori, D, Geelhoed, JJM, Steegers, EAP, et al. Insulin gene variable number of tandem repeats is not associated with weight from fetal life until infancy: the Generation R study. Eur J Endocrinol. 2007; 157, 741–748.Google Scholar
39.Geelhoed, JJM, Mook-Kanamori, D, Witteman, JCM, et al. Variation in the IGF1 gene and growth in foetal life and infancy: the Generation R study. Clin Endocrinol. 2008; 68, 382–389.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
40.Mook-Kanamori, D, Steegers, EAP, Uitterlinden, AG, et al. Breast-feeding modifies the association of PPARgamma2 polymorphism Pro12Ala with growth in early life: the Generation R study. Diabetes. 2009; 58, 992–998.Google Scholar
41.Geelhoed, MJJ, Steegers, EAP, Koper, JW, et al. Glucocorticoid receptor gene polymorphisms do not affect growth in fetal and early postnatal life. The Generation R study. BMC Med Genet. 2010; 11, 39.Google Scholar
42.Hart, R, Sloboda, DM, Doherty, DA, et al. Prenatal determinants of uterine volume and ovarian reserve in adolescence. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2009; 94, 4931–4937.Google Scholar
43.Roza, SJ, Govaert, PP, Vrooman, HA, et al. Foetal growth determines cerebral ventricular volume in infants the Generation R study. Neuroimage. 2008; 39, 1491–1498.Google Scholar
44.Ekelund, U, Ong, KK, Linne, Y, et al. Association of weight gain in infancy and early childhood with metabolic risk in young adults. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2007; 92, 98–103.Google Scholar
45.Leunissen, RW, Kerkhof, GF, Stijnen, T, Hokken-Koelega, A. Timing and tempo of first- year rapid growth in relation to cardiovascular and metabolic risk profile in early adulthood. JAMA. 2009; 301, 2234–2242.Google Scholar
46.Tanner, JM. Foetus into Man, 2nd edn, 1989. Castlemead Publications: Hertfordshire.Google Scholar
47.Guihard-Costa, AM, Droulle, P, Larroche, JM. Growth velocity of the biparietal diameter, abdominal transverse diameter and femur length in the fetal period. Early Hum Dev. 1991; 27, 93–102.Google Scholar
48.Southgate, DAT, Hay, EN. Chemical and biochemical development of the fetus. In The Biology of Fetal Growth Symposia of the Society for the Study of Human Biology (eds. Roberts DF, Thomson AM), 1976; vol. 15, pp. 195–209.Google Scholar
49.Villar, J, Belizan, JM. The timing factor in the pathophysiology of the intrauterine growth retardation syndrome. Obstet Gynecol Surv. 1982; 37, 499–506.Google Scholar
50.Cole, TJ. Growth and organ development. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2009; 639, 1–13.Google Scholar
51.BjØnerem, A, Johnsen, SL, Nguyen, TV, Kiserud, T, Seeman, E. The shifting trajectory of growth in femur length during gestation. J Bone Miner Res. 2010; 25, 1029–1033.Google Scholar
52.Barker, DJP, Martyn, CN, Osmond, C, Wield, GA. Abnormal liver growth in utero and death from coronary heart disease. BMJ. 1995; 310, 703.Google Scholar
53.Brenner, BM, Meyer, TW, Hostetter, TH. Dietary protein intake and the progressive nature of kidney disease: the role of hemodynamically mediated glomerular injury in the pathogenesis of progressive glomerular sclerosis in aging, renal ablation, and intrinsic renal disease. N Engl J Med. 1982; 307, 652–659.Google Scholar
54.Frankfurt, JA, Duncan, AF, Heyne, RJ, Rosenfield, CR. Renal function and systolic blood pressure in very-low-birth-weight infants 1–3 years of age. Pediatr Nephrol. 2012; 27, 2285–2291.Google Scholar
55.Cameron, N, Preece, MA, Cole, TJ. Catch-up growth or regression to the mean? Recovery from stunting revisited. Am J Hum Biol. 2005; 17, 412–417.Google Scholar
56.Egger, M, Zellweger-Zähner, T, Schneider, M, et al. Language bias in randomised controlled trials published in English and German. Lancet. 1997; 350, 326–329.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Norris supplementary material 1

Norris supplementary material 1

Download Norris supplementary material 1(File)
File 32.3 KB
Supplementary material: File

Norris supplementary material 2

Norris supplementary material 2

Download Norris supplementary material 2(File)
File 53.2 KB
Supplementary material: File

Norris supplementary material 3

Norris supplementary material 3

Download Norris supplementary material 3(File)
File 53.2 KB
Supplementary material: File

Norris supplementary material 4

Norris supplementary material 4

Download Norris supplementary material 4(File)
File 327.7 KB