title: A twin-sibling study on early growth and hormone levels in adolescents.
abstract: This study addresses how growth during sensitive developmental periods and genes may affect hormone levels in late adolescence. We analyzed hormone levels of dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) and insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), which are hypothesized to be two pathways linking early growth with adult diseases (such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease) via their effects on enhanced insulin resistance. In a twin-sibling study, we tested whether there is an association between reduced intra-uterine growth and higher DHEAS or IGF-I levels in serum during adolescence, and we examined the contribution of insulin to the link between early growth and higher DHEAS and/or IGF-I levels. Anthropometric and hormone data were collected in 18-year-old twins (184 pairs) and their non-twin siblings (n = 98). Neither birth weight nor current body size predicted serum DHEAS and IGF-I levels. In the subsample of children who showed catch-up growth in weight during infancy, the children of lower birth weight had significantly higher serum DHEAS and IGF-I levels, but these were not related to insulin levels. Variation in serum DHEAS, IGF-I and fasting insulin levels was largely explained by genetic factors (73, 78 and 61 % respectively). Thus, early growth affects hormone levels in adolescence, but only in children with catch-up growth after birth. No evidence was found that early growth enhances insulin resistance via the hormones DHEAS or IGF-I.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, fvanburk@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: G Frederiek
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Estourgie-van Burk
authors.forename: Meike
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bartels
authors.forename: Dorret I
authors.initials: DI
authors.lastname: Boomsma
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D041923:Adolescent Development; D000328:Adult; D000886:Anthropometry; D001724:Birth Weight; D049628:Body Size; D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D019314:Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007328:Insulin / Q000097:blood*; D007333:Insulin Resistance; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I / Q000737:chemistry*; D008297:Male; D012042:Registries; D035781:Siblings; D014429:Twins, Dizygotic; D014430:Twins, Monozygotic; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D007328:Insulin; D019314:Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I