title: Newborn size and body composition as predictors of insulin resistance and diabetes in the parents: Parthenon Birth Cohort Study, Mysore, India.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We aimed to examine detailed neonatal measurements as predictors of later diabetes in both parents.
  
  
  METHODS
  Babies (n = 617) born to nondiabetic parents in Holdsworth Memorial Hospital, Mysore, India, were measured at birth for weight; crown-to-heel length (CHL), crown-to-rump length (CRL), and leg length; skinfolds (triceps and subscapular); and circumferences (head, abdomen, and mid-upper-arm circumference [MUAC]). Nine and a half years later, glucose tolerance and fasting insulin were measured in their parents (469 mothers and 398 fathers).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sixty-two (15.6%) fathers and 22 (4.7%) mothers had developed diabetes. There were linear inverse associations of the children's birth weight, CHL, CRL, MUAC, and skinfolds with paternal diabetes and insulin resistance (P < 0.05 for all). Offspring birth weight and adiposity (MUAC, abdominal circumference, and skinfolds) showed U-shaped associations with maternal diabetes (P for quadratic association <0.05 for all). These associations persisted after adjusting for the parents' current adiposity and maternal glucose concentrations and adiposity during pregnancy. Newborn adiposity was positively related to maternal insulin resistance; this association was nonsignificant after adjusting for maternal current adiposity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Newborn size is a window into the future health of the parents. Small newborn size (especially soft-tissue body components) predicts an increased risk of later diabetes in both parents, suggesting a genetic or epigenetic link between parents' diabetes risk and reduced fetal growth in their children. The association of higher birth weight and newborn adiposity with later maternal diabetes suggests effects on fetal adiposity of the intrauterine environment in prediabetic mothers.
authors: Holdsworth Memorial Hospital, Mysore, Karnataka, India. veenasr@gmail.com
authors: Sargoor R
authors: SR
authors: Veena
authors: Ghattu V
authors: GV
authors: Krishnaveni
authors: Caroline H
authors: CH
authors: Fall
mesh_terms: D050154:Adiposity / Q000502:physiology*; D001724:Birth Weight / Q000502:physiology*; D001823:Body Composition / Q000502:physiology*; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007333:Insulin Resistance / Q000502:physiology*; D010290:Parents; D011446:Prospective Studies