Fetal origins of adult disease: epidemiology and mechanisms

Abstract

The past 10 years have provided unequivocal evidence that there are associations between birth size measures and future development of adult diseases, such as type 2 diabetes and coronary artery disease. Despite initial concern that bias or residual confounding in the analyses had produced these rather bizarre associations, the findings have now been reproduced in different cohorts by independent investigators from many parts of the world. The challenge for the next decade must be to discover the cellular and molecular mechanisms giving rise to these associations. If this aim is accomplished, it might be possible to devise strategies to reduce the impact of these disabling, chronic, and expensive diseases. The purpose of this review is to describe some of the relevant, important, and more recent epidemiological studies, and also to discuss potential mechanisms underpinning the associations.