title: Maternal levels of corticotropin-releasing hormone during pregnancy in relation to adiponectin and leptin in early childhood.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Fetal glucocorticoid exposure is associated with later development of features of the metabolic syndrome such as central obesity and insulin resistance. Fat tissue, especially visceral fat, produces adiponectin, which is inversely associated with insulin resistance in older children and adults. Adipocytes also produce leptin, directly related to measures of adiposity. It is unknown how the secretion of these hormones in early childhood is related to pregnancy levels of CRH, a proxy of fetal glucocorticoid exposure.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Our aim was to study the relationship of maternal midpregnancy CRH levels with offspring levels of adiponectin and leptin in early childhood.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study population consisted of 349 mother-children pairs from Project Viva, a prospective prebirth cohort study from eastern Massachusetts. We created a general linear model with log CRH levels in midpregnancy maternal blood as the predictor and adiponectin and leptin measured in the 3-yr-old offspring as outcomes, adjusting for covariates.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The means (sd) of log CRH, adiponectin, and leptin were 4.97 (0.65) log pg/ml, 22.4 (5.8) microg/ml, and 1.9 (1.8) ng/ml. For each unit increment in log CRH, mean value of offspring adiponectin was 1.10 microg/ml (95% confidence interval = 0.06-2.14) higher. We found no association with leptin (-0.08 ng/ml; 95% confidence interval = -0.40-0.24).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Higher maternal blood levels of CRH were associated with higher levels of adiponectin but unchanged levels of leptin at age 3 yr. The increased adiponectin levels might represent secretion from organs other than fat or reflect a compensatory mechanism to increase insulin sensitivity.
authors.affiliation: Medisinsk Teknisk Forskningssenter, 7489 Trondheim, Norway. magnus.fasting@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Magnus H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Fasting
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Oken
authors.forename: Christos S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Mantzoros
authors.forename: Janet W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Rich-Edwards
authors.forename: Joseph A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Majzoub
authors.forename: Ken
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kleinman
authors.forename: Sheryl L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Rifas-Shiman
authors.forename: Torstein
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Vik
authors.forename: Matthew W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Gillman
mesh_terms: D052242:Adiponectin / Q000097:blood*; D000328:Adult; D001724:Birth Weight; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003346:Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D020738:Leptin / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D008423:Maternal Age; D009035:Mothers; D011247:Pregnancy; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016216:Ultrasonography, Prenatal
chemical_list: D052242:Adiponectin; D020738:Leptin; D003346:Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone