Maternal and cord blood hormones in relation to birth size

Abstract

Birth size has been associated with adult life diseases, but the endocrine factors that are likely involved are not established. We evaluated the associations of maternal and cord blood hormones with birth size in normal pregnancies, and examined possible effect modification by maternal height, on the basis of prior suggestive evidence. In a prospective study of normal singleton pregnancies in Boston, USA and Shanghai, China, maternal hormone levels at the 27th gestational week were available for 225 pregnancies in Boston and 281 in Shanghai and cord blood measurements for 92 pregnancies in Boston and 110 in Shanghai. Pearson partial correlation coefficients of log-transformed hormone levels with birth weight and length were calculated. Overall, positive correlations with birth weight were found for maternal estriol (r = 0.19; p < 0.001) and progesterone (r = 0.15; p < 0.001) and these associations were more evident among taller mothers. There was an inverse association of cord blood progesterone (r = -0.16; p < 0.03) with birth weight. In Boston, cord blood IGF-1 was positively associated with birth weight (r = 0.22; p < 0.04) and length (r = 0.25; p < 0.02), particularly among taller mothers (r = 0.43 and 0.38, respectively; p < 0.02), whereas among taller mothers in Shanghai the associations of IGF-2 with birth size appeared to be at least as strong as those of IGF-1. In conclusion, maternal estriol and progesterone, and cord blood IGF-1 were positively correlated with birth size. All correlations tended to be more pronounced among offspring of taller mothers. Among taller mothers in Shanghai, IGF-2 appeared to be at least as strongly associated with birth size as IGF-1.

Size at birth and risk of breast cancer: update from a prospective population-based study

“…The hypothesis is supported by the positive association of the cord blood IGF-1 with birth size, which appears to be restricted to daughters of relatively tall mothers [18,35,36]. In contrast to mothers of shorter stature, taller mothers may not impose mechanical constraints on fetal growth, and growth enhancing pregnancy hormones, including IGFs, may therefore be allowed to exercise their effects, and result in a positive association with birth size [34] and subsequently, with breast cancer risk [8,9] in daughters of taller mothers.…”

An untargeted metabolomics method for archived newborn dried blood spots in epidemiologic studies

“…Although several steroids including progesterone, 17-hydroxyprogesterone (17-OHP), cortisol, and growth hormones have been found to be inversely associated with infant birth weight, newborn hormone levels are influenced by many factors such as delivery type, gestational age, maternal height, maternal hormone levels, and the day of sample collection (Carlsen et al 2006; Lagiou et al 2014; Rajesh et al 2000; Schwarz et al 2009). …”

Peri-gestational risk factors for pediatric brain tumors in Neurofibromatosis Type 1

“…IGF-1 is a hormone that is critically important in growth and development, such that genetic deletion of Igf -1 in mice results in viable pups with lower birth weights [23]. In addition, higher cord blood IGF-1 levels have been positively associated with birth weight [24,25]. Relevant to brain tumors, IGF-1 is required for normal central nervous system development [26], where IGF-1 has been shown to increase malignant glioma cell proliferation in vitro [27].…”