Abstract
BackgroundMaternal age at childbirth continues to increase worldwide. We aimed to assess whether increasing maternal age is associated with changes in childhood height, body composition, and metabolism.Methods277 healthy pre-pubertal children, born 37–41 weeks gestation were studied. Assessments included: height and weight corrected for parental measurements, DEXA-derived body composition, fasting lipids, glucose, insulin, and hormonal profiles. Subjects were separated according to maternal age at childbirth: <30, 30–35, and >35 years.ResultsOur cohort consisted of 126 girls and 151 boys, aged 7.4±2.2 years (range 3–10); maternal age at childbirth was 33.3±4.7 years (range 19–44). Children of mothers aged >35 and 30–35 years at childbirth were taller than children of mothers aged <30 years by 0.26 (p = 0.002) and 0.23 (p = 0.042) SDS, respectively. There was a reduction in childhood BMISDS with increasing maternal age at childbirth, and children of mothers aged >35 years at childbirth were 0.61 SDS slimmer than those of mothers <30 years (p = 0.049). Children of mothers aged 30–35 (p = 0.022) and >35 (p = 0.036) years at childbirth had abdominal adiposity reduced by 10% and 13%, respectively, compared to those in the <30 group. Children of mothers aged 30–35 years at childbirth displayed a 19% increase in IGF-I concentrations compared to offspring in <30 group (p = 0.042). Conversely, IGF-II concentrations were lower among the children born to mothers aged 30–35 (6.5%; p = 0.004) and >35 (8.1%; p = 0.005) compared to those of mothers aged <30 years. Girls of mothers aged 30–35 years at childbirth also displayed improved HOMA-IR insulin sensitivity (p = 0.010) compared to girls born to mothers aged <30 years.ConclusionsIncreasing maternal age at childbirth is associated with a more favourable phenotype (taller stature and reduced abdominal fat) in their children, as well as improved insulin sensitivity in girls.
Highlights
Over the past three decades, maternal age at first childbirth has increased by approximately 4 years in most developed countries [1]
Increasing maternal age at childbirth has been linked to adverse health effects on their children, including greater risk of type 1 diabetes [3], as well as higher blood pressure in childhood [4] and higher rates of type 2 diabetes [5] in adulthood
2 Controls were friends of OSA children to ensure similar age group, ethnicity, and socio-economic status. 3 22 children were born small-for-gestational age and/or premature; 5 were pubertal; 3 were born to a mother with gestational diabetes/glucose intolerance; and one child was on medication known to influence growth. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0058869.g001
Summary
Over the past three decades, maternal age at first childbirth has increased by approximately 4 years in most developed countries [1]. This shift in reproductive behaviour means that most children are currently born to mothers aged over 30 years [1]. Increasing maternal age at childbirth has been linked to adverse health effects on their children, including greater risk of type 1 diabetes [3], as well as higher blood pressure in childhood [4] and higher rates of type 2 diabetes [5] in adulthood. We aimed to assess whether increasing maternal age is associated with changes in childhood height, body composition, and metabolism
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