Abstract

BackgroundSubstantial evidence suggests that weight gain in early life is associated with increased adiposity and other metabolic disorders later in life. It is, however, unknown whether physical activity (PA) may modify these associations. We aimed to examine whether objectively measured PA at 30 years modified the associations between conditional weight gain in infancy (0–2 y) and childhood (2–4 y) with fat mass index (FMI) and visceral abdominal fat measured at age 30 years.MethodsProspective birth cohort study in Pelotas, Brazil, including 1874 participants with weight data at birth, two and four years of age, and measures of FMI, visceral abdominal fat and PA at a mean age of 30.2 years. At age 30, time spent (min/day) in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) was measured objectively using a wrist-worn accelerometer worn for four to seven consecutive days.. Multiple linear regression analyses was performed to assess the associations between conditional weight gain and outcome variables at 30 years, adjusting for covariates. We examined whether PA modified the association between conditional weight gain and the outcomes of interest by introducing an interaction term (conditional weight gain × PA) in the models.ResultsConditional weight gain in infancy and childhood were both positively associated with later FMI (infancy weight gain: β = 0.68, 95% CI: 0.48, 0.88; P < 0.001; childhood weight gain: β = 0.91, 95% CI: 0.70, 1.11; P < 0.001). A formal test for interaction suggested that MVPA at 30 years of age modified the association between childhood relative weight gain and later FMI (β = −0.006, 95% CI: -0.011, −0.001; P = 0.029), suggesting stronger associations between weight gain and FMI in those with lower levels of MVPA. Conditional weight gain in childhood was also positively associated with visceral abdominal fat (β = 0.24, 95% CI: 0.15, 0424, P < 0.001). There was no evidence for a modification of the latter association after adjustment for physical activity.ConclusionConditional weight gain between 2 and 4 years of age is associated with increased FMI at age 30 years. However, higher levels of MVPA appear to attenuate this detrimental association.

Highlights

  • Substantial evidence suggests that weight gain in early life is associated with increased adiposity and other metabolic disorders later in life

  • Valid accelerometer data were available in 2718 participants, fat mass index (FMI) data were available in 3521 participants and visceral abdominal fat data were available in 3493 participants

  • There was a lower prevalence of low birth weight infants (P = 0.001), a lower percentage of mothers with no schooling at birth (P = 0.008), and a lower percentage of participants coming from a family with a low income (P = 0.001) among those who were included in the analyses (Table 1)

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Summary

Introduction

Substantial evidence suggests that weight gain in early life is associated with increased adiposity and other metabolic disorders later in life. It is, unknown whether physical activity (PA) may modify these associations. Ortega et al [14] reported that physical activity measured by accelerometers modified the association between birth weight and insulin resistance. Neither of these studies examined whether physical activity modified the association between conditional weight gain and later health outcomes.n. We are not aware of any prospective studies examining if PA in adulthood can moderate or modify the associations between accurately measured infant and childhood growth on detailed measures of adult adiposity

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