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. 2019 May;31(5):717-721.
doi: 10.1007/s40520-018-1011-0. Epub 2018 Jul 24.

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

M J Haapanen  1   2 , M M Perälä  3   4 , C Osmond  5 , M K Salonen  3   4 , E Kajantie  4   6   7 , T Rantanen  8 , M Simonen  9 , P Pohjolainen  10 , J G Eriksson  11   3   4 , M B von Bonsdorff  3   8
Affiliations

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

M J Haapanen et al. Aging Clin Exp Res. 2019 May.

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.

Keywords: Frailty; Growth; Life course; Risk factor.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Infant and childhood growth of the 13 men and 26 women who developed frailty in a cohort of 1078 participants born in Helsinki
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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