Associations between perinatal factors and adiponectin and leptin in 9-year-old Mexican-American children
Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 15, 2026
Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study
Published on: February 2, 2017
Vitaly Volberg1, Kim G Harley, Raul S Aguilar
1Center for Environmental Research and Children's Health (CERCH), School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.
Insights
Rapid early growth in infants is linked to lower adiponectin levels in children. Child adipokine levels also correlate with maternal levels, suggesting early life factors influence obesity-related markers.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Endocrinology
- Obesity Research
- Maternal-Child Health
Background:
- Mexican-American children face high obesity risks.
- Perinatal environment factors like maternal nutrition and infant growth influence offspring obesity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine associations between perinatal factors and adiponectin/leptin in 9-year-olds.
- To assess relationships between adiponectin, leptin, and lipid profiles in children.
Main Methods:
- Studied 146 mother-child pairs from a longitudinal birth cohort.
- Collected data on perinatal factors, maternal nutrition, and early child growth.
Main Results:
- Faster infant weight/length gain in the first 6 months correlated with lower child adiponectin.
- No association found between child adipokines and maternal dietary intake or child intake of SSBs/fast food.
- Child lipid profiles reflected adiponectin levels, and child adipokine levels related to maternal levels.
Conclusions:
- Early life growth rate may alter children's adipokine levels.
- Child adipokine levels are associated with maternal levels.
What Is Already Known About This Subject:
Mexican-American children are at particularly high risk of obesity. Features of the perinatal environment, including maternal nutrition, anthropometry, glucose tolerance and growth rate during infancy are implicated in programming of obesity in the offspring.
What This Study Adds:
Greater rate of weight or length gain in the first 6 months of life is associated with lower 9-year child adiponectin levels, adjusting for 9-year child BMI. Nine-year-old child adipokine levels are strongly related to those of their mothers'.
Objectives:
To (i) determine whether perinatal factors (including maternal anthropometry and nutrition and early life growth measures) are associated with adiponectin and leptin levels in 9-year-old children, and (ii) assess relationships between adiponectin, leptin and concurrent lipid profile in these children.
Methods:
We measured plasma adiponectin and leptin for 146 mothers-9-year-old child pairs from the ongoing longitudinal birth cohort followed by the Center for the Health Assessment of Mothers and Children of Salinas. Data on perinatal factors, including sociodemographics, maternal anthropometry and nutrition, and early life child growth were collected during pregnancy, birth and 6-month visits.
Results:
Greater rate of weight and length gain during the first 6 months of life were associated with lower adiponectin in 9-year-olds (β = -2.0, P = 0.04; β = -8.2, P = 0.02, respectively) adjusting for child body mass index (BMI). We found no associations between child adipokine levels and either maternal calorie, protein, total fat, saturated fat, fibre, sugar-sweetened beverage consumption during pregnancy or children's concurrent sugar-sweetened beverage and fast food intake. Lipid profile in 9-year-old children closely reflected adiponectin but not leptin levels after adjustment for child BMI. Additionally, we report that child adipokine levels were closely related to their mothers' levels at the 9-year visit.
Conclusion:
Overall, our results support the hypothesis that early life factors may contribute to altered adipokine levels in children.
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