title: Increasing maternal age is associated with taller stature and reduced abdominal fat in their children.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Maternal 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.
  
  
  METHODS
  277 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.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our 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.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Increasing 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.
authors.affiliation: Liggins Institute, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Savage
authors.forename: José G B
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Derraik
authors.forename: Harriet L
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Miles
authors.forename: Fran
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mouat
authors.forename: Paul L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Hofman
authors.forename: Wayne S
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Cutfield
mesh_terms: D050153:Abdominal Fat; D000328:Adult; D000886:Anthropometry; D001724:Birth Weight; D001786:Blood Glucose; D001823:Body Composition; D001827:Body Height; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007328:Insulin / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008423:Maternal Age; D011247:Pregnancy; D013002:Somatomedins / Q000378:metabolism; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D007328:Insulin; D013002:Somatomedins; D002784:Cholesterol