Life-course influence of birthweight and subsequent pathways on healthy aging: a Mendelian randomization study

Birthweight readily measurable marker of fetal growth that may influence health across the lifespan. We aimed to investigate the potential causal association between birthweight and healthy aging and to identify the mediating roles of subsequent socioeconomic, behavioral, functional, and disease-related factors to inform life-course strategies to promote healthy aging and reduce health inequities.

We performed two-sample Mendelian randomization analyses in European-ancestry participants to estimate the effect of birthweight (n = 298,142-423,683) on two robust, composite healthy aging phenotypes (genetically independent phenotype of aging (aging-GIP) and multivariate aging-related genetic factor (mvAge)) and six individual aging phenotypes, including healthspan, resilience, parental lifespan, self-rated health, phenotypic age deceleration, and 90^th percentile self-longevity (n = 34,710-1,958,774), and screened for 100 candidate mediators (n = 14,267-1,812,017) using a two-step mediation analysis.

Genetically determined each 1-SD higher birthweight was associated with higher aging-GIP (β [95% CI] in different models ranging from 0.131 [0.066-0.196] to 0.162 [0.089-0.235] SDs) and mvAge (0.036 [0.010-0.063] to 0.045 [0.024-0.067]), independent of later-life obesity indicators; also with more interpretable benefits, including 12%-16% higher odds of longer healthspan, a 0.079-0.089 SD improvement in resilience, and a 1.22-1.74 year increase in parental lifespan. Of 100 candidates, 26 and 25 mediated the effect of birthweight on aging-GIP and mvAge, respectively, including socioeconomic indicators (education, household income, occupational attainment; individual mediation proportion: 12.72%-27.79%); behaviors (e.g., cheese intake, age at first sex; 10.38%-29.56%); physical functions (e.g., blood pressure, grip strength; 7.57%-42.65%); and cardiometabolic diseases (e.g., type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases; 25.02%-70.11%).

Higher birthweight within the normal range directly promotes healthy aging, mediated by multifaceted modifiable factors. Our findings advocate adopting a life-course approach to foster healthy aging, starting with optimal birthweight and extending to interventions that enhance socioeconomic status, promote healthy behaviors, strengthen physical functions, and prevent cardiometabolic diseases.