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Infants born large-for-gestational-age display slower growth in early infancy, but no epigenetic changes at birth

Valentina Chiavaroli1, Wayne S Cutfield1, José G B Derraik1

  • 1Liggins Institute, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.

Scientific Reports
|October 1, 2015
PubMed

Insights

Infants born large-for-gestational-age (LGA) show faster initial growth but catch up to appropriate-for-gestational-age (AGA) infants by six months. No epigenetic differences were found between LGA and AGA newborns.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Growth and Development
  • Epigenetics and Perinatal Health
  • Neonatal Medicine

Background:

  • Infants born large-for-gestational-age (LGA) present distinct anthropometric characteristics at birth compared to appropriate-for-gestational-age (AGA) infants.
  • Understanding the postnatal growth trajectories and potential epigenetic modifications in LGA infants is crucial for assessing long-term health outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To compare the growth patterns of LGA infants versus AGA infants from birth to one year of age.
  • To investigate potential genome-wide DNA methylation differences between LGA and AGA newborns.

Main Methods:

  • Longitudinal anthropometric assessments of 71 newborns (42 AGA, 29 LGA) at 3, 6, and 12 months post-birth.
  • Genome-wide DNA methylation analysis of umbilical cord tissue from a subset of 46 infants (19 AGA, 27 LGA).

Main Results:

  • LGA infants exhibited significantly greater weight, length, and circumferences at birth compared to AGA infants.
  • While LGA infants remained larger at 3 months, catch-up growth in AGA infants led to no significant anthropometric differences by 6 months.
  • Genome-wide analysis revealed no significant epigenetic differences in DNA methylation between LGA and AGA newborns.

Conclusions:

  • LGA infants experience accelerated initial growth but achieve similar anthropometric measurements to AGA infants by six months of age due to compensatory growth.
  • Observed anthropometric differences between LGA and AGA newborns are not associated with detectable genome-wide epigenetic changes in umbilical tissue.

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