Impact of serum adiponectin concentration on birth size and early postnatal growth

In term neonates, the adiponectin concentration is higher than it is in adults. To determine the relationship between adiponectin and early neonatal growth in a cohort study. Fifty-two neonates at term were studied. Serum adiponectin concentrations, body sizes, and skinfold thicknesses were measured at birth and at 1 mo of age. At birth, cord blood adiponectin concentration correlated positively with birth weight (r = 0.484, p = 0.0003), birth length (r = 0.524, p < 0.0001), and sum of the four skinfold thickness measurements (r = 0.378, p = 0.0057). In a stepwise regression, birth length was the only determinant of cord blood adiponectin concentration. However, at 1 mo of age, serum adiponectin concentration correlated with no anthropometric parameter at all. Between birth and 1 mo of age, the individual change in adiponectin concentration correlated negatively with birth weight. Thus, serum adiponectin concentrations in cord blood have a strong relationship to birth length rather than to body fatness, and this relationship is not demonstrated in 1-mo-old infants. These results imply that hormonal, substrate, or other mechanisms that regulate the relationship between body composition and growth in fetal life are different from those governing these relationships in early postnatal life.