Associations of cord blood leptin and adiponectin with children’s cognitive abilities

Abstract

Background: Adipocytokines may play a role in fetal programming of neurodevelopment. We aimed to investigate the associations between cord blood adipocytokine concentrations and children’s intelligence test scores. Methods: We used data from two ongoing pregnancy cohorts in North America: the Maternal-Infant Research on Environmental Chemicals (MIREC, n=429) and Health Outcomes and Measures of the Environment (HOME, n=183) Studies. Umbilical cord blood adipocytokine concentrations were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. We assessed children’s Intelligence Quotient (IQ) and its components using the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scales of Intelligence-III or Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-IV. We used linear regression and linear mixed models to estimate associations between log2-transformed adipocytokine concentrations and children’s IQ after adjusting for sociodemographic, perinatal, and child factors. Results: After adjusting for covariates, cord blood adiponectin was positively associated with children’s full-scale IQ scores at age 3 years in the MIREC Study (β=1.4, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.2, 2.5) and at ages 5 and 8 years in the HOME Study (β=1.7, CI: −0.1, 3.5). Adiponectin was positively associated with performance IQ in both studies (MIREC: β=2.0, CI: 0.7, 3.3; HOME: β=2.2, CI: 0.5, 3.9). Adiponectin was positively associated with working memory composite scores at age 8 in the HOME Study (β=3.1, CI: 1.0, 5.2). Leptin was not associated with children’s IQ in either study. Conclusions: Cord blood adiponectin was associated with higher full-scale and performance IQ and working memory composite scores in children. Future studies are needed to explore the mechanisms underlying these associations.

Metabolic proteins at birth predict early childhood mental health symptoms

“…To our knowledge, this is among the first few studies to prospectively predict mental health symptoms from cord blood adipocytokines, and the first examining a leptin-to-adiponectin ratio. The majority of research investigating cord blood adipocytokines has been primarily concerned with predicting metabolic health (Stocker & Cawthorne, 2008); however, our results provide support for the possibility that metabolic proteins at birth also forecast risk for mental health symptoms in early childhood (e.g., Li et al, 2019;Minatoya et al, 2018;Raghavan et al, 2019). Additionally, our data revealed that higher adiponectin was associated with a decreased chance of being rated higher in ability in the "managing feelings and behaviors" domain.…”

“…Fetal adiponectin contributes to fetal growth both in utero and postnatally in the first years of life (Fasting et al., 2009; Mazaki‐Tovi et al., 2005, 2011), as well as early pro‐inflammatory cytokine signaling (Mcdonald & Wolfe, 2011). With regard to childhood mental health, leptin and adiponectin in cord blood have primarily been linked to neurodevelopmental symptoms in early childhood (Li et al., 2019; Minatoya et al., 2018; Raghavan et al., 2019). However, research to date has not explored whether leptin or adiponectin at birth in cord blood predict other early mental health symptoms.…”

Human milk oligosaccharide 2’-fucosyllactose links feedings at 1 month to cognitive development at 24 months in infants of normal and overweight mothers

“…Moreover, maternal obesity alters breast milk composition: this includes neuroactive components, e.g., leptin and adiponectin [9]. Exposure to these compounds has been shown to influence infant cognitive performance [10,11]. It stands to reason that maternal obesity and breast milk feeding frequency may impact degree of exposure to neuroactive components at critical stages of brain maturation, and this may in turn influence infant cognitive development.…”

Adiponectin Levels Are Associated with White Matter Lesions (WMLs) and Cognitive Impairment

“…In addition to adults, adiponectin levels are also associated with children's cognitive function. Li et al's research shows that cord blood adiponectin is related to children's cognitive abilities [ 24 ]. In addition, the effect of adiponectin on cognitive function was also observed in animal experiments.…”