Maternal insulin resistance, triglycerides and cord blood insulin are not determinants of offspring growth and adiposity up to 5 years: a follow-up study.

AIMS: Metabolic dysregulation in utero may influence fetal metabolism and early growth. We previously investigated relationships between maternal indices of glucose homeostasis and triglycerides as well as cord blood insulin with offspring anthropometry up to 2 years. The aim of this analysis was to follow these relationships up to the age of 5 years.

METHODS: Associations between maternal metabolic variables of glucose and lipid metabolism measured at 32 weeks' gestation and cord blood insulin with growth and body composition of 162 offspring aged 3-5 years were explored. Both indirect (i.e. body weight, BMI percentiles, sum of four skinfold thicknesses) and direct (i.e. ultrasonography, magnetic resonance imaging in a subgroup) measurement techniques were employed.

RESULTS: Maternal metabolic indices were largely unrelated to child body composition. Cord blood insulin was negatively associated with fat mass and lean body mass at 3 years in unadjusted analyses, and the sum of four skinfold thicknesses and body fat percentage in adjusted analyses, whereas the association with lean body mass was no longer observed. An inverse relationship between cord blood insulin and weight gain up to 5 years was observed in girls only with small effect sizes.

CONCLUSIONS: Results from this follow-up do not provide convincing evidence that these markers are independently related to offspring growth and adiposity in early childhood. Although cord blood insulin was weakly inversely related to weight gain in girls at 5 years, we cannot conclude that the observed changes in outcomes are clinically meaningful. (Clinical Trials Registry No: NCT00362089).