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Rationale and design of the Baylor Infant Twin Study-A study assessing obesity-related risk factors from infancy
Shabnam R Momin1, Mackenzie K Senn1, Scott Buckley2
1Department of Pediatrics USDA/ARS Children's Nutrition Research Center Baylor College of Medicine Houston Texas USA.
Insights
The Baylor Infant Twin Study (BITS) piloted methods to understand early childhood obesity risk factors. Phase 1 assessed infant temperament, feeding, and DNA methylation to inform future research on environmental influences.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric obesity research
- Infant development studies
- Epigenetics and environmental influences
Background:
- Early childhood (0-3 years) is critical for obesity prevention, establishing eating and activity behaviors.
- Understanding environmental impacts on genetic predispositions for these behaviors in infancy is limited.
- The Baylor Infant Twin Study (BITS) Phase 1 piloted methods for Phase 2 obesity risk factor research.
Purpose of the Study:
- To pilot novel assessment methods for infant temperament, feeding behaviors, and DNA methylation.
- To establish foundational data collection techniques for a larger twin study on obesity risk factors.
- To investigate early life environmental influences on obesity-related behaviors in infants.
Main Methods:
- Pilot studies included the Behavior Observation Pilot Protocol (BOPP) for temperament and feeding, the Baylor Infant Orometer (BIO) for feeding parameters, and EpiTwin for DNA methylation analysis.
- Data collection occurred at 4, 6, and 12 months of age, involving temperament and feeding observations, body composition, and biological sample collection (hair, urine, nails, blood).
- EpiTwin analyzed DNA methylation at 10 metastable epialleles in neonatal twins, collecting demographic, zygosity, and behavioral data.
Main Results:
- Recruitment for all pilot studies (EpiTwin, BOPP, BIO) was completed by early 2020.
- EpiTwin recruited 80 twin pairs (50% monochorionic); BOPP completed by 31 twin pairs; BIO included 68 singleton infants.
- The pilot phase successfully gathered preliminary data on infant behaviors and biological markers relevant to obesity.
Conclusions:
- Psychometric properties of data from BOPP, BIO, and EpiTwin are currently under analysis.
- Findings will guide the full Baylor Infant Twin Study (BITS) protocol development.
- The full BITS protocol aims to assess 400 twin pairs at 4, 6, 12, and 14 months of age.
Background:
Early childhood (0-3 years) is a critical period for obesity prevention, when tendencies in eating behaviors and physical activity are established. Yet, little is understood about how the environment shapes children's genetic predisposition for these behaviors during this time. The Baylor Infant Twin Study (BITS) is a two phase study, initiated to study obesity risk factors from infancy. Data collection has been completed for Phase 1 in which three sub-studies pilot central measures for Phase 2. A novel infant temperament assessment, based on observations made by trained researchers was piloted in Behavior Observation Pilot Protocol (BOPP) study, a new device for measuring infant feeding parameters (the "orometer") in the Baylor Infant Orometer (BIO), and methods for analyzing DNA methylation in twins of unknown chorionicity in EpiTwin.
Methods:
EpiTwin was a cross-sectional study of neonatal twins, while up to three study visits occurred for the other studies, at 4- (BOPP, BIO), 6- (BOPP), and 12- (BOPP, BIO) of age. Measurements for BOPP and BIO included temperament observations, feeding observations, and body composition assessments while EpiTwin focused on collecting samples of hair, urine, nails, and blood for quantifying methylation levels at 10 metastable epialleles. Additional data collected include demographic information, zygosity, chorionicity, and questionnaire-based measures of infant behaviors.
Results:
Recruitment for all three studies was completed in early 2020. EpiTwin recruited 80 twin pairs (50% monochorionic), 31 twin pairs completed the BOPP protocol, and 68 singleton infants participated in BIO.
Conclusions:
The psychometric properties of the data from all three studies are being analyzed currently. The resulting findings will inform the development of the full BITS protocol, with the goal of completing assessments at 4-, 6-, 12-, and 14-month of age for 400 twin pairs.
