| Title: | Birth weight variants are associated with variable fetal intrauterine growth from 20 weeks of gestation |
| Journal: | Scientific Reports |
| Published: | 30 May 2018 |
| Pubmed: | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29849051/ |
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-26752-3 |
| URL: | https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-26752-3.pdf |
Publication 4362
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Abstract
Fetal intrauterine growth is influenced by complex interactions between the maternal genes, environment and fetal genes. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of GWAS-identified genetic variants associated with birth weight on intrauterine fetal growth in 665 children. Fetal growth was estimated by two-dimensional ultrasound scans at 20, 25 and 32 weeks of gestation and growth trajectories were modeled using mixed linear regression. A genetic risk score (GRS) of birth weight-raising variants was associated with intrauterine growth showing an attenuating effect on the unconditional daily reduction in proportional weight gain of 8.92 × 10−6 percentage points/allele/day (p = 2.0 × 10−4), corresponding to a mean difference of 410 g at 40 weeks of gestation between a child with lowest and highest GRS. Eight variants were independently associated with intrauterine growth throughout the pregnancy, while four variants were associated with fetal growth in the periods 20-25 or 25-32 weeks of gestation, indicating that some variants may act in specific time windows during pregnancy. Four of the intrauterine growth variants were associated with type 2 diabetes, hypertension or BMI in the UK Biobank, which may provide basis for further understanding of the link between intrauterine growth and later risk of metabolic disease.</p>
10 Authors
- L. Engelbrechtsen
- D. Gybel-Brask
- Y. Mahendran
- M. Crusell
- T. H. Hansen
- T. M. Schnurr
- E. Hogdall
- L. Skibsted
- T. Hansen
- H. Vestergaard
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