Abstract
Evidence from life course studies highlights the importance of infant and childhood growth as risk factors for adulthood chronic diseases. In this sub-study of the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study, we studied 1078 individuals who had both information on body size from birth to 12years of age and who were assessed for frailty according to the Fried criteria at the mean age of 71years. Greater BMI gain between 2 and 11years in boys was associated with frailty in old age (age-adjusted RRR 2.36, 95% CI 1.21, 4.63). No similar associations were observed in girls. Men who were frail in old age experienced accelerated BMI gain in childhood compared with those men who were not frail. This was not observed in women, which suggests that the patterns of early growth predisposing to frailty may vary by sex.
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