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Infant and childhood growth and frailty in old age: the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study

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Abstract

Background

Evidence from life course studies highlights the importance of infant and childhood growth as risk factors for adulthood chronic diseases.

Methods

In this sub-study of the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study, we studied 1078 individuals who had both information on body size from birth to 12 years of age and who were assessed for frailty according to the Fried criteria at the mean age of 71 years.

Results

Greater BMI gain between 2 and 11 years in boys was associated with frailty in old age (age-adjusted RRR 2.36, 95% CI 1.21, 4.63). No similar associations were observed in girls.

Conclusions

Men who were frail in old age experienced accelerated BMI gain in childhood compared with those men who were not frail. This was not observed in women, which suggests that the patterns of early growth predisposing to frailty may vary by sex.

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Funding

HBCS was supported by Emil Aaltonen Foundation, Finnish Foundation for Cardiovascular Research, Finnish Foundation for Diabetes Research, Finnish Foundation for Pediatric Research, Juha Vainio Foundation, Novo Nordisk Foundation, Signe and Ane Gyllenberg Foundation, Samfundet Folkhälsan, Finska Läkaresällskapet, Liv och Hälsa, European Commission FP7 (DORIAN) Grant agreement no. 278603 and EU H2020-PHC-2014-DynaHealth Grant no. 633595 and the Academy of Finland.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, PO Box 20, 00014, Helsinki, Finland

    M. J. Haapanen & J. G. Eriksson

  2. Folkhälsan Research Center, Helsinki, Finland

    M. J. Haapanen, M. M. Perälä, M. K. Salonen, J. G. Eriksson & M. B. von Bonsdorff

  3. Chronic Disease Prevention Unit, Department of Public Health Solutions, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland

    M. M. Perälä, M. K. Salonen, E. Kajantie & J. G. Eriksson

  4. MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, Southampton General Hospital, University of Southamptom, Southampton, UK

    C. Osmond

  5. Hospital for Children and Adolescents, Helsinki University Central Hospital and University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    E. Kajantie

  6. PEDEGO Research Unit, MRC Oulu, Oulu University Hospital and University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland

    E. Kajantie

  7. Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, Gerontology Research Center, University of Jyväskylä, Jyvaskyla, Finland

    T. Rantanen & M. B. von Bonsdorff

  8. Finnish Centre of Excellence in Intersubjectivity in Interaction, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    M. Simonen

  9. Age Institute, Helsinki, Finland

    P. Pohjolainen

Authors
  1. M. J. Haapanen
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  2. M. M. Perälä
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  3. C. Osmond
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  4. M. K. Salonen
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  5. E. Kajantie
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  6. T. Rantanen
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  7. M. Simonen
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  8. P. Pohjolainen
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  9. J. G. Eriksson
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  10. M. B. von Bonsdorff
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to M. J. Haapanen.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee (Coordinating Ethics Committee of The Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa) and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Haapanen, M.J., Perälä, M.M., Osmond, C. et al. Infant and childhood growth and frailty in old age: the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study. Aging Clin Exp Res 31, 717–721 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-018-1011-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-018-1011-0

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