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Sex-specific differences in fetal and infant growth patterns: a prospective population-based cohort study

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to assess whether sex-specific differences in fetal and infant growth exist. METHODS: This study was embedded in the Generation R Study, a population-based prospective birth cohort. In total, 8556 live singleton births were included. Fetal growth was asses...

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Autores principales: Broere-Brown, Zoe A., Baan, Esme, Schalekamp-Timmermans, Sarah, Verburg, Bero O., Jaddoe, Vincent W. V., Steegers, Eric A. P.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5135770/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27980713
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13293-016-0119-1
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author Broere-Brown, Zoe A.
Baan, Esme
Schalekamp-Timmermans, Sarah
Verburg, Bero O.
Jaddoe, Vincent W. V.
Steegers, Eric A. P.
author_facet Broere-Brown, Zoe A.
Baan, Esme
Schalekamp-Timmermans, Sarah
Verburg, Bero O.
Jaddoe, Vincent W. V.
Steegers, Eric A. P.
author_sort Broere-Brown, Zoe A.
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to assess whether sex-specific differences in fetal and infant growth exist. METHODS: This study was embedded in the Generation R Study, a population-based prospective birth cohort. In total, 8556 live singleton births were included. Fetal growth was assessed by ultrasound. During the first trimester, crown-rump-length (CRL) was measured. In the second and third trimester of pregnancy head circumference (HC), abdominal circumference (AC) and femur length (FL) were assessed. Information on infant growth during the first 2 years of life was obtained from Community Health Centers and included HC, body weight and length. RESULTS: In the first trimester, male CRL was larger than female CRL (0.12 SD [95% CI 0.03,0.22]). From the second trimester onwards, HC and AC were larger in males than in females (0.30 SD [95% CI 0.26,0.34] and 0.09 SD [95% CI 0.05,0.014], respectively). However, FL in males was smaller compared to female fetuses (0.21 SD [95% CI 0.17,0.26]). Repeated measurement analyses showed a different prenatal as well as postnatal HC growth pattern between males and females. A different pattern in body weight was observed with a higher body weight in males until the age of 12 months where after females have a higher body weight. CONCLUSIONS: Sex affects both fetal as well as infant growth. Besides body size, also body proportions differ between males and females with different growth patterns. This sexual dimorphism might arise from differences in fetal programming with sex specific health differences as a consequence in later life. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13293-016-0119-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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spelling pubmed-51357702016-12-15 Sex-specific differences in fetal and infant growth patterns: a prospective population-based cohort study Broere-Brown, Zoe A. Baan, Esme Schalekamp-Timmermans, Sarah Verburg, Bero O. Jaddoe, Vincent W. V. Steegers, Eric A. P. Biol Sex Differ Research BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to assess whether sex-specific differences in fetal and infant growth exist. METHODS: This study was embedded in the Generation R Study, a population-based prospective birth cohort. In total, 8556 live singleton births were included. Fetal growth was assessed by ultrasound. During the first trimester, crown-rump-length (CRL) was measured. In the second and third trimester of pregnancy head circumference (HC), abdominal circumference (AC) and femur length (FL) were assessed. Information on infant growth during the first 2 years of life was obtained from Community Health Centers and included HC, body weight and length. RESULTS: In the first trimester, male CRL was larger than female CRL (0.12 SD [95% CI 0.03,0.22]). From the second trimester onwards, HC and AC were larger in males than in females (0.30 SD [95% CI 0.26,0.34] and 0.09 SD [95% CI 0.05,0.014], respectively). However, FL in males was smaller compared to female fetuses (0.21 SD [95% CI 0.17,0.26]). Repeated measurement analyses showed a different prenatal as well as postnatal HC growth pattern between males and females. A different pattern in body weight was observed with a higher body weight in males until the age of 12 months where after females have a higher body weight. CONCLUSIONS: Sex affects both fetal as well as infant growth. Besides body size, also body proportions differ between males and females with different growth patterns. This sexual dimorphism might arise from differences in fetal programming with sex specific health differences as a consequence in later life. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13293-016-0119-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. BioMed Central 2016-12-03 /pmc/articles/PMC5135770/ /pubmed/27980713 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13293-016-0119-1 Text en © The Author(s). 2016 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
spellingShingle Research
Broere-Brown, Zoe A.
Baan, Esme
Schalekamp-Timmermans, Sarah
Verburg, Bero O.
Jaddoe, Vincent W. V.
Steegers, Eric A. P.
Sex-specific differences in fetal and infant growth patterns: a prospective population-based cohort study
title Sex-specific differences in fetal and infant growth patterns: a prospective population-based cohort study
title_full Sex-specific differences in fetal and infant growth patterns: a prospective population-based cohort study
title_fullStr Sex-specific differences in fetal and infant growth patterns: a prospective population-based cohort study
title_full_unstemmed Sex-specific differences in fetal and infant growth patterns: a prospective population-based cohort study
title_short Sex-specific differences in fetal and infant growth patterns: a prospective population-based cohort study
title_sort sex-specific differences in fetal and infant growth patterns: a prospective population-based cohort study
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5135770/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27980713
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13293-016-0119-1
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