Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Feb 6:4:3906.
doi: 10.1038/srep03906.

Among overweight middle-aged men, first-borns have lower insulin sensitivity than second-borns

Benjamin B Albert  1 , Martin de Bock  1 , José G B Derraik  1 , Christine M Brennan  1 , Janene B Biggs  1 , Paul L Hofman  2 , Wayne S Cutfield  2
Affiliations

Among overweight middle-aged men, first-borns have lower insulin sensitivity than second-borns

Benjamin B Albert et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

We aimed to assess whether birth order affects metabolism and body composition in overweight middle-aged men. We studied 50 men aged 45.6 ± 5.5 years, who were overweight (BMI 27.5 ± 1.7 kg/m(2)) but otherwise healthy in Auckland, New Zealand. These included 26 first-borns and 24 second-borns. Insulin sensitivity was assessed by the Matsuda method from an oral glucose tolerance test. Other assessments included DXA-derived body composition, lipid profiles, 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure, and carotid intima-media thickness. First-born men were 6.9 kg heavier (p = 0.013) and had greater BMI (29.1 vs 27.5 kg/m(2); p = 0.004) than second-borns. Insulin sensitivity in first-born men was 33% lower than in second-borns (4.38 vs 6.51; p = 0.014), despite adjustment for fat mass. There were no significant differences in ambulatory blood pressure, lipid profile or carotid intima-media thickness between first- and second-borns. Thus, first-born adults may be at a greater risk of metabolic and cardiovascular diseases.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no financial or non-financial conflicts of interest to disclose that may be relevant to this work. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Summary of study recruitment.
All participants from the olive leaf extract and krill oil (unpublished data) trials were overweight middle-aged men recruited in Auckland, New Zealand.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Caldwell J. C. & Schindlmayr T. Explanations of the fertility crisis in modern societies: A search for commonalities. Pop. Stud. 57, 241–263 (2003). - PubMed
    1. Ayyavoo A., Savage T., Derraik J. G., Hofman P. L. & Cutfield W. S. First-born children have reduced insulin sensitivity and higher daytime blood pressure compared to later-born children. J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. 98, 1248–1253 (2013). - PubMed
    1. Ayyavoo A., Derraik J. G., Hofman P. L. & Cutfield W. S. Is being first-born another risk factor for metabolic and cardiovascular diseases? Future Cardiol. 9, 447–450 (2013). - PubMed
    1. Siervo M., Horta B. L., Stephan B. C., Victora C. G. & Wells J. C. First-borns carry a higher metabolic risk in early adulthood: evidence from a prospective cohort study. PLoS ONE 5, e13907 (2010). - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ong K. K., Preece M. A., Emmett P. M., Ahmed M. L. & Dunger D. B. Size at birth and early childhood growth in relation to maternal smoking, parity and infant breast-feeding: longitudinal birth cohort study and analysis. Pediatr. Res. 52, 863–867 (2002). - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources