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The influence of birth weight and genetic factors on lipid levels: a study in adult twins

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 March 2007

Chuluuntulga Tuya ,
William J. Mutch ,
Paul Haggarty ,
Doris M. Campbell ,
Alastair Cumming ,
Kevin Kelly ,
Iain Broom  and
Geraldine McNeill
Chuluuntulga Tuya
Affiliation:
Clinical Biochemistry Department, NHS Grampian, Foresterhill, Aberdeen AB25 2XGUK
William J. Mutch
Affiliation:
Clinical Biochemistry Department, NHS Grampian, Foresterhill, AberdeenUK
Paul Haggarty
Affiliation:
Rowett Research Institute, Greenburn Road, Bucksburn, Aberdeen AB21 9SBUK
Doris M. Campbell
Affiliation:
University of AberdeenDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Foresterhill, Aberdeen AB25 2ZDUK
Alastair Cumming
Affiliation:
University of AberdeenDepartment of Molecular and Cell Biology, Department of Molecular and Cell BiologyUK
Kevin Kelly
Affiliation:
University of AberdeenDepartment of Medical Genetics, Foresterhill, Aberdeen AB25 2ZDUK
Iain Broom
Affiliation:
Clinical Biochemistry Department, NHS Grampian, Foresterhill, AberdeenUK
Geraldine McNeill*
Affiliation:
University of AberdeenDepartment of Environmental and Occupational Medicine, Foresterhill, Aberdeen AB25 2ZDUK
*
*Corresponding author: fax +44 1224 551826, email g.mcneill@abdn.ac.uk
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Abstract

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Twins can be used to investigate the biological basis for observed associations between birth weight and later disease risk, as they experience in utero growth restriction compared with singletons, which can differ in magnitude within twin pairs despite partial or total genetic identity. In the present study, sixty monozygotic and seventy-one dizygotic same-sex twin pairs aged 19–50 years and eighty-nine singleton controls matched for age, gestational age, sex, maternal age and parity were recruited from an obstetric database. Associations between fasting lipid levels and birth weight were assessed by linear regression with adjustment for possible confounding factors. Twins were significantly lighter at birth but were not significantly different in adult height, weight or lipid levels from the singleton controls. There was a significant inverse association between birth weight and both total and LDL-cholesterol levels among singleton controls (−0·53mmol/l per kg (95% CI −0·97, −0·09), P=0·02 and −0·39mmol/l per kg (95% CI −0·76, −0·02), P=0·04, respectively), but there was no significant association between birth weight and lipid levels in either unpaired or within-pair analysis of twins. The results suggest that the in utero growth restriction and early catch-up growth experienced by twins does not increase the risk of an atherogenic lipid profile in adult life.

Keywords

Birth weightLipid levelsTwins
Type
Research Article
Information
British Journal of Nutrition , Volume 95 , Issue 3 , March 2006 , pp. 504 - 510
Copyright
Copyright © The Nutrition Society 2006

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