Relationships of maternal and paternal anthropometry with neonatal body size, proportions and adiposity in an Australian cohort.

Emma Pomeroy,Jay T Stock,Jonathan C.K Wells,Michael O'Callaghan,Tim J Cole

doi:10.1002/ajpa.22680

Abstract

The patterns of association between maternal or paternal and neonatal phenotype may offer insight into how neonatal characteristics are shaped by evolutionary processes, such as conflicting parental interests in fetal investment and obstetric constraints. Paternal interests are theoretically served by maximizing fetal growth, and maternal interests by managing investment in current and future offspring, but whether paternal and maternal influences act on different components of overall size is unknown. We tested whether parents' prepregnancy height and body mass index (BMI) were related to neonatal anthropometry (birthweight, head circumference, absolute and proportional limb segment and trunk lengths, subcutaneous fat) among 1,041 Australian neonates using stepwise linear regression. Maternal and paternal height and maternal BMI were associated with birthweight. Paternal height related to offspring forearm and lower leg lengths, maternal height and BMI to neonatal head circumference, and maternal BMI to offspring adiposity. Principal components analysis identified three components of variability reflecting neonatal “head and trunk skeletal size,” “adiposity,” and “limb lengths.” Regression analyses of the component scores supported the associations of head and trunk size or adiposity with maternal anthropometry, and limb lengths with paternal anthropometry. Our results suggest that while neonatal fatness reflects environmental conditions (maternal physiology), head circumference and limb and trunk lengths show differing associations with parental anthropometry. These patterns may reflect genetics, parental imprinting and environmental influences in a manner consistent with parental conflicts of interest. Paternal height may relate to neonatal limb length as a means of increasing fetal growth without exacerbating the risk of obstetric complications. Am J Phys Anthropol 156:625–636, 2015.

Highlights

Fetal growth and development have important implications across the life-course, influencing the risk of birth complications (Koyanagi et al, 2013), neonatal morbidity and mortality (Karn and Penrose, 1951; McIntire et al, 1999), the schedule and trajectory of postnatal growth (Smith et al, 1976; Mei et al, 2004), reproductive function (Lummaa, 2003) and adult disease risk (Hales and Barker, 1992; Barker, 1998)
The results show that various neonatal body measurements differ in their relationships to parental anthropometry
In the analyses of individual neonatal measurements, maternal height and body mass index (BMI) and paternal height related to offspring birthweight, both parents’ height and BMI related to neck-rump length, and both parents’ height to proximal limb segment lengths

Summary

Introduction

Fetal growth and development have important implications across the life-course, influencing the risk of birth complications (Koyanagi et al, 2013), neonatal morbidity and mortality (Karn and Penrose, 1951; McIntire et al, 1999), the schedule and trajectory of postnatal growth (Smith et al, 1976; Mei et al, 2004), reproductive function (Lummaa, 2003) and adult disease risk (Hales and Barker, 1992; Barker, 1998). The relative lengths of the distal (forearm or lower leg) to proximal (upper arm or thigh) limb bones were calculated since distal limb segment lengths may be sensitive to environmental growth disturbance (Meadows Jantz and Jantz, 1999; Lampl et al, 2003; Bailey et al, 2007; Pomeroy et al, 2012, 2013), but the relationship between neonatal intralimb proportions and parental anthropometry is unknown.

Results

Conclusion