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Association between height and weight catch-up growth with insulin resistance in pre-pubertal Chinese children born small for gestational age at two different ages

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Abstract

This study was performed to test whether children born small for gestational age (SGA) with catch-up growth (CUG) could be associated with the early development of insulin resistance and the β-cell dysfunction and to explore the impacts of height CUG and weight CUG on the insulin resistance in a Chinese population. A total of 30 children born SGA with CUG, 37 non-CUG (NCUG), and 42 born appropriate for gestational age (AGA) with normal height were recruited. Their fasting serum insulin, fasting glucose, insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) concentrations, and the homeostasis assessment model for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and β-cell function (HOMA%) were evaluated. The values of HOMA-IR in CUG SGA were significantly higher than that in NCUG SGA (P = 0.002) and AGA children (P = 0.036), respectively. Correlation analysis revealed that the concentrations of fasting serum insulin were positively correlated with IGF-1 (r = 0.443, P = 0.001) and Δheight standard deviation score (SDS; r = 0.500, P = 0.002) in ≤6-year-old SGA children, but only with Δweight SDS (r = 0.496, P = 0.030) in >6-year-old children. In conclusion, SGA children with CUG in height and a higher body mass index are prone to the development of insulin resistance. Higher levels of insulin were closely correlated with the postnatal height CUG in young SGA children and with the weight CUG in old children.

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Abbreviations

AGA:

Appropriate for gestational age

SGA:

Small for gestational age

CUG:

Catch-up growth

NCUG:

Non-catch-up growth

BMI:

Body mass index

SD:

Standard deviation

SDS:

Standard deviation score(s)

IGF-1:

Insulin-like growth factor-1

GH:

Growth hormone

HOMA:

Homeostasis assessment model

IR:

Insulin resistance

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Acknowledgments

The study was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (grant number 9151008901000079). The authors thank Prof. Ke Han, Ph.D., for his expert advice in statistical analysis.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, No.58, Zhongshan 2 Road, Guangzhou, 510080, China

    Hong-Zhu Deng, Yan-Hong Li, Zhe Su, Hua-Mei Ma, Yue-Fang Huang, Hong-Shan Chen & Min-Lian Du

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  1. Hong-Zhu Deng
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  2. Yan-Hong Li
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Correspondence to Min-Lian Du.

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Deng, HZ., Li, YH., Su, Z. et al. Association between height and weight catch-up growth with insulin resistance in pre-pubertal Chinese children born small for gestational age at two different ages. Eur J Pediatr 170, 75–80 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-010-1274-8

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