Association between birth weight and educational attainment: an individual-based pooled analysis of nine twin cohorts

Jelenkovic, Aline; Mikkonen, Janne; Martikainen, Pekka; Latvala, Antti; Yokoyama, Yoshie; Sund, Reijo; Vuoksimaa, Eero; Rebato, Esther; Sung, Joohon; Kim, Jina; Lee, Joo-Yeon; Lee, Sooji; Stazi, Maria A.; Fagnani, Corrado; Brescianini, Sonia; Derom, Cathérine; Vlietinck, Robert; Loos, Ruth J.F.; Krueger, Robert F.; Pahlen, Shandell; Nelson, Tracy L.; Whitfield, Keith E.; Brandt, Ingunn; Nilsen, Thomas Sevenius; Harris, Jennifer R.; Cutler, Tessa L.; Hopper, John L.; Tárnoki, Ádám Domonkos; Tárnoki, Dávid László; Sørensen, Thorkild I A; Kaprio, Jaakko; Silventoinen, Karri

doi:10.1136/jech-2017-210403

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Using the twin design, we demonstrated that intrauterine conditions affecting smaller birth size are associated with shorter height and lower BMI from early childhood to adulthood (Jelenkovic et al, 2017;, which are consistent with prior studies. On the other hand, our findings that birth weight was only weakly associated with adult education in discordant twin pairs (Jelenkovic, Mikkonen et al, 2018) and that males and females having opposite-sex co-twins showed no consistent differences as compared to those having same-sex co-twins in height and BMI (Bogl et al, 2017) are not consistent with previous hypotheses. Because there is a well-known tendency to publish positive results (Thornton & Lee, 2000), these types of large collaborative studies are important to validly test hypotheses and estimate effect sizes not inflated by publication bias.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 91%

“…We used the discordant twin pair design to analyze how differences in birth weight between co-twins, which may reflect differences in the intrauterine environment, can affect differences in education in adulthood. We found that the lighter co-twin at birth had shorter education than the heavier co-twin, but the differences were very small and somewhat inconsistent between birth cohorts and zygosities (Jelenkovic, Mikkonen et al, 2018). In another study, we analyzed how parental education modifies the genetic and environmental variation of BMI from infancy to old age in the cultural-geographic regions (Silventoinen et al, 2019).…”

Section: Major Findings From Studies On Education and Smokingmentioning

confidence: 98%

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The CODATwins Project: The Current Status and Recent Findings of COllaborative Project of Development of Anthropometrical Measures in Twins

et al. 2019

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The COllaborative project of Development of Anthropometrical measures in Twins (CODATwins) project is a large international collaborative effort to analyze individual-level phenotype data from twins in multiple cohorts from different environments. The main objective is to study factors that modify genetic and environmental variation of height, body mass index (BMI, kg/m2) and size at birth, and additionally to address other research questions such as long-term consequences of birth size. The project started in 2013 and is open to all twin projects in the world having height and weight measures on twins with information on zygosity. Thus far, 54 twin projects from 24 countries have provided individual-level data. The CODATwins database includes 489,981 twin individuals (228,635 complete twin pairs). Since many twin cohorts have collected longitudinal data, there is a total of 1,049,785 height and weight observations. For many cohorts, we also have information on birth weight and length, own smoking behavior and own or parental education. We found that the heritability estimates of height and BMI systematically changed from infancy to old age. Remarkably, only minor differences in the heritability estimates were found across cultural–geographic regions, measurement time and birth cohort for height and BMI. In addition to genetic epidemiological studies, we looked at associations of height and BMI with education, birth weight and smoking status. Within-family analyses examined differences within same-sex and opposite-sex dizygotic twins in birth size and later development. The CODATwins project demonstrates the feasibility and value of international collaboration to address gene-by-exposure interactions that require large sample sizes and address the effects of different exposures across time, geographical regions and socioeconomic status.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 91%

Section: Major Findings From Studies On Education and Smokingmentioning

confidence: 98%

The CODATwins Project: The Current Status and Recent Findings of COllaborative Project of Development of Anthropometrical Measures in Twins

et al. 2019

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“…Considering that Full-Scale IQ is less frequently included in large population studies due to its heavy burden on examiners and participants, we aimed to maximize use of these data as others have before us. 57 – 59 In CANDLE, full-scale IQ was derived from the 10 subtests in the SB-5 addressing five cognitive factors with verbal and nonverbal tests for each factor: knowledge, fluid reasoning, quantitative reasoning, visual-spatial processing, and working memory. In TIDES, Full-Scale IQ was estimated using the Tellegen and Briggs formula, 60 incorporating five WISC-V domains—verbal comprehension, visual spatial, fluid reasoning, working memory, and processing speed.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Associations of Pre- and Postnatal Air Pollution Exposures with Child Behavioral Problems and Cognitive Performance: A U.S. Multi-Cohort Study

Loftus

Szpiro

et al. 2022

Environ Health Perspect

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Background: Population studies support the adverse associations of air pollution exposures with child behavioral functioning and cognitive performance, but few studies have used spatiotemporally resolved pollutant assessments. Objectives: We investigated these associations using more refined exposure assessments in 1,967 mother–child dyads from three U.S. pregnancy cohorts in six cities in the ECHO-PATHWAYS Consortium. Methods: Pre- and postnatal nitrogen dioxide ( ) and particulate matter (PM) in aerodynamic diameter ( ) exposures were derived from an advanced spatiotemporal model. Child behavior was reported as Total Problems raw score using the Child Behavior Checklist at age 4–6 y. Child cognition was assessed using cohort-specific cognitive performance scales and quantified as the Full-Scale Intelligence Quotient (IQ). We fitted multivariate linear regression models that were adjusted for sociodemographic, behavioral, and psychological factors to estimate associations per 2-unit increase in pollutant in each exposure window and examined modification by child sex. Identified critical windows were further verified by distributed lag models (DLMs). Results: Mean and ranged from and , respectively, across pre- and postnatal windows. Average child Total Problems score and IQ were 22.7 [standard deviation (SD): 18.5] and 102.6 (SD: 15.3), respectively. Children with higher prenatal exposures were likely to have more behavioral problems [ : 1.24; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.39, 2.08; per ], particularly in the first and second trimester. Each increase in at age 2–4 y was associated with a 3.59 unit (95% CI: 0.35, 6.84) higher Total Problems score and a 2.63 point (95% CI: , ) lower IQ. The associations between and Total Problems score were generally stronger in girls. Most predefined windows identified were not confirmed by DLMs. Discussion: Our study extends earlier findings that have raised concerns about impaired behavioral functioning and cognitive performance in children exposed to and in utero and in early life. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP10248

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“…Low birth weight (a global index of poor fetal development) has been associated with a range of mental health problems (including attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, bipolar disorder, depression, schizophrenia and suicide), [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] as well lower intelligence and socioeconomic status [9][10][11] (see also the Introduction in the supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.2021.15). These findings are consistent with the developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) hypothesis, 12,13 which states that adverse in utero and perinatal experiences may have long-lasting effects on adult health.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contribution of birth weight to mental health, cognitive and socioeconomic outcomes: two-sample Mendelian randomisation

et al. 2021

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Background Low birth weight is associated with adult mental health, cognitive and socioeconomic problems. However, the causal nature of these associations remains difficult to establish owing to confounding. Aims To estimate the contribution of birth weight to adult mental health, cognitive and socioeconomic outcomes using two-sample Mendelian randomisation, an instrumental variable approach strengthening causal inference. Method We used 48 independent single-nucleotide polymorphisms as genetic instruments for birth weight (genome-wide association studies’ total sample: n = 264 498) and considered mental health (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, obsessive–compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), schizophrenia, suicide attempt), cognitive (intelligence) and socioeconomic (educational attainment, income, social deprivation) outcomes. Results We found evidence for a contribution of birth weight to ADHD (OR for 1 s.d. unit decrease (~464 g) in birth weight, 1.29; 95% CI 1.03–1.62), PTSD (OR = 1.69; 95% CI 1.06–2.71) and suicide attempt (OR = 1.39; 95% CI 1.05–1.84), as well as for intelligence (β = −0.07; 95% CI −0.13 to −0.02) and socioeconomic outcomes, i.e. educational attainment (β = −0.05; 95% CI −0.09 to −0.01), income (β = −0.08; 95% CI −0.15 to −0.02) and social deprivation (β = 0.08; 95% CI 0.03–0.13). However, no evidence was found for a contribution of birth weight to the other examined mental health outcomes. Results were consistent across a wide range of sensitivity analyses. Conclusions These findings support the hypothesis that birth weight could be an important element on the causal pathway to mental health, cognitive and socioeconomic outcomes.

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Association between birth weight and educational attainment: an individual-based pooled analysis of nine twin cohorts

Abstract: Although associations are weak and somewhat inconsistent, our results suggest that intrauterine environment may play a role when explaining the association between birth weight and educational attainment.

Cited by 5 publications

References 49 publications

The CODATwins Project: The Current Status and Recent Findings of COllaborative Project of Development of Anthropometrical Measures in Twins

The CODATwins Project: The Current Status and Recent Findings of COllaborative Project of Development of Anthropometrical Measures in Twins

Associations of Pre- and Postnatal Air Pollution Exposures with Child Behavioral Problems and Cognitive Performance: A U.S. Multi-Cohort Study

Contribution of birth weight to mental health, cognitive and socioeconomic outcomes: two-sample Mendelian randomisation

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