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Aim : To examine the relationship between birth weight (BW) and abdominal adiposity in
adolescents.
Research Design and Methods: A total of 284 adolescents (49.3% females) aged
14.9 ±1.2 years were included in the study. BW and gestational age were obtained from
parental records. Abdominal adiposity (in three regions: R1, R2, and R3), trunk and total
body fat mass (FM) were measured by DXA. Regional FM indexes (FMI=FM/height 2)
were thereafter calculated (Trunk FMI and abdominal FMI R1, R2, and R3).
Results: BW was negatively associated with abdominal FMI R1, R2 and R3
independently of total FM, gestational age, gender, breastfeeding duration, pubertal
stage, physical activity and socioeconomic status (all P<0.01).
Conclusions: Our study shows an inverse association between BW and abdominal
adiposity in adolescents, independently of total FM and other potential confounders.
These findings suggest that fetal nutrition, as reflected by BW, may have a
programming effect on abdominal adiposity later in life.
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