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MONDAY, Feb. 10, 2020 (HealthDay News) — Higher birth weight for births at-term are associated with greater cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) in young adulthood regardless of body mass index, according to a study published online Jan. 31 in the Journal of the American Heart Association<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Viktor H. Ahlqvist, from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, and colleagues assessed whether birth weight, within the at-term range, is associated with later CRF. Analysis included 286,761 young male adults and a subset of 52,544 siblings born at-term. CRF, defined as the maximal load (Wmax, expressed in watts) obtained on a cycle ergometer, was tested at conscription.<\/p>\n
The researchers found that higher birth weight, within the at-term range, was strongly associated with increasing CRF in a linear manner. For each standard deviation (450 grams) increase in birth weight, there was an associated increase of 7.9 Wmax in the total cohort and a 6.6 Wmax increase in the sibling cohort. There was no association noted for young adulthood body mass index.<\/p>\n
“The magnitude of the difference we observed is alarming,” a coauthor said in a statement. “The observed 7.9 watts increase for each 450 grams of extra weight at birth, in a baby born at 40 weeks, translates into approximately 1.34 increase in metabolic equivalent which has been associated with a 13 percent difference in the risk of premature death and a 15 percent difference in the risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Such differences in mortality are similar to the effect of a 7-centimeter reduction in waist circumference.”<\/p>\n