Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T11:06:13.044Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Associations of early-life growth with health using an allostatic load score in young, urban African adults: Birth to Twenty Plus Cohort

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 October 2019

Craig J. McGowan Open the ORCID record for Craig J. McGowan [Opens in a new window]  and
Shane A. Norris
Craig J. McGowan*
Affiliation:
SAMRC Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit, Department of Paediatrics, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
Shane A. Norris
Affiliation:
SAMRC Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit, Department of Paediatrics, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
*
Address for correspondence: Craig J. McGowan, SAMRC Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit, 7 York Rd, Parktown, Johannesburg 2193, South Africa. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Growth in early life is associated with various individual health outcomes in adulthood, but limited research has been done on associations with a more comprehensive measure of health. Combining information from multiple biological systems, allostatic load (AL) provides such a quantitative measure of overall physiological health. We used longitudinal data from the Birth to Twenty Plus cohort in South Africa to calculate an AL score at age 22 years and examined associations with birth weight and linear growth and weight gain from age 0 to 2 years and 2 to 5 years, as attenuated by trajectories of body mass index and pubertal development in later childhood and adolescence. Differences in total AL score between males and females were small, though levels of individual biological factors contributing to AL differed by sex. Increased weight gain from age 2 to 5 years among males was associated with an increased risk of high AL, but no other early-life measures were associated with AL. Increased adiposity through childhood and adolescence in females was associated with higher AL in early adulthood. These results illustrate that patterns of early-life growth are not consistently associated with higher AL. While more research is needed to link AL in young adulthood to later health outcomes, these results also suggest increased adiposity during childhood and adolescence represents a potential early sign of later physiological risk.

Keywords

Allostatic loaddevelopmental origins of adult diseasebirth weightearly growthbody composition
Type
Original Article
Information
Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease , Volume 11 , Issue 4 , August 2020 , pp. 360 - 368
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press and the International Society for Developmental Origins of Health and Disease 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Gluckman, PD, Hanson, MA, Buklijas, T.A conceptual framework for the developmental origins of health and disease. J Dev Origins of Health and Dis. 2010; 1, 6–18.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eriksson, JG, Forsen, T, Tuomilehto, J, Osmond, C, Barker, DJ.Early growth and coronary heart disease in later life: longitudinal study. BMJ (Clinical research ed) 2001; 322, 949–953.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lawlor, DA, Smith, GD.Early life determinants of adult blood pressure. Curr Opin Nephrol Hypertens. 2005; 14, 259–264.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Norris, SA, Osmond, C, Gigante, D, et al. Size at birth, weight gain in infancy and childhood, and adult diabetes risk in five low- or middle-income country birth cohorts. Diabetes Care 2012; 35, 72–79.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lundeen, EA, Norris, SA, Martorell, R, et al. Early life growth predicts pubertal development in South African adolescents. J Nutr. 2016; 146, 622–629.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Prioreschi, A, Munthali, RJ, Kagura, J, et al. The associations between adult body composition and abdominal adiposity outcomes, and relative weight gain and linear growth from birth to age 22 in the Birth to Twenty Plus cohort, South Africa. PLoS One 2018; 13, e0190483.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Munthali, RJ, Kagura, J, Lombard, Z, Norris, SA.Childhood adiposity trajectories are associated with late adolescent blood pressure: birth to twenty cohort. BMC Public Health 2016; 16, 665.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Owen, CG, Whincup, PH, Orfei, L, et al. Is body mass index before middle age related to coronary heart disease risk in later life? Evidence from observational studies. Int J Obesity (2005) 2009; 33, 866–877.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Peneau, S, Giudici, KV, Gusto, G, et al. Growth trajectories of body mass index during childhood: associated factors and health outcome at adulthood. J Pediatr. 2017; 186, 64–71.e1.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reilly, JJ, Kelly, J.Long-term impact of overweight and obesity in childhood and adolescence on morbidity and premature mortality in adulthood: systematic review. Int J Obesity 2011; 35, 891.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Golub, MS, Collman, GW, Foster, PM, et al. Public health implications of altered puberty timing. Pediatrics 2008; 121 Suppl 3, S218–S230.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McEwen, BS, Stellar, E.Stress and the individual. Mechanisms leading to disease. Arch Intern Med. 1993; 153, 2093–2101.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Castagne, R, Gares, V, Karimi, M, et al. Allostatic load and subsequent all-cause mortality: which biological markers drive the relationship? Findings from a UK birth cohort. Eur J Epidemiol. 2018; 33, 441–458.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Karlamangla, AS, Singer, BH, McEwen, BS, Rowe, JW, Seeman, TE.Allostatic load as a predictor of functional decline. MacArthur studies of successful aging. J Clin Epidemiol. 2002; 55, 696–710.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Karlamangla, AS, Singer, BH, Seeman, TE.Reduction in allostatic load in older adults is associated with lower all-cause mortality risk: Macarthur studies of successful aging. Psychosom Med. 2006; 68, 500–507.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Robertson, T, Beveridge, G, Bromley, C.Allostatic load as a predictor of all-cause and cause-specific mortality in the general population: evidence from the Scottish Health Survey. PLoS One 2017; 12, e0183297.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Seeman, TE, McEwen, BS, Rowe, JW, Singer, BH.Allostatic load as a marker of cumulative biological risk: MacArthur studies of successful aging. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2001; 98, 4770–4775.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Seeman, TE, Singer, BH, Rowe, JW, Horwitz, RI, McEwen, BS.Price of adaptation--allostatic load and its health consequences. MacArthur studies of successful aging. Arch Intern Med. 1997; 157, 2259–2268.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dowd, JB, Simanek, AM, Aiello, AE.Socio-economic status, cortisol and allostatic load: a review of the literature. Int J Epidemiol 2009; 38, 1297–1309.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rainisch, BK, Upchurch, DM.Sociodemographic correlates of allostatic load among a national sample of adolescents: findings from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1999–2008. J Adolesc Health: Off Publ Soc Adolesc Med. 2013; 53, 506–511.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Allsworth, JE, Weitzen, S, Boardman, LA.Early age at menarche and allostatic load: data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Ann Epidemiol. 2005; 15, 438–444.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Christensen, DS, Flensborg-Madsen, T, Garde, E, Hansen, AM, Masters Pedersen, J, Mortensen, EL.Early life predictors of midlife allostatic load: a prospective cohort study. PLoS One 2018; 13, e0202395.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Richter, L, Norris, S, Pettifor, J, Yach, D, Cameron, N.Cohort profile: Mandela’s children: the 1990 Birth to Twenty study in South Africa. Intern J Epidemiol. 2007; 36, 504–511.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Adair, LS, Fall, CH, Osmond, C, et al. Associations of linear growth and relative weight gain during early life with adult health and human capital in countries of low and middle income: findings from five birth cohort studies. Lancet (London, England) 2013; 382, 525–534.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chyu, L, Upchurch, DM.Racial and ethnic patterns of allostatic load among adult women in the United States: findings from the national health and nutrition examination survey 1999–2004. J Women’s Health 2011; 20, 575–583.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Evans, GW, Kim, P, Ting, AH, Tesher, HB, Shannis, D.Cumulative risk, maternal responsiveness, and allostatic load among young adolescents. Dev Psychol. 2007; 43, 341.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Geronimus, AT, Hicken, M, Keene, D, Bound, J.“Weathering” and age patterns of allostatic load scores among Blacks and Whites in the United States. Am J Public Health 2006; 96, 826–833.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goodman, E, McEwen, BS, Huang, B, Dolan, LM, Adler, NE.Social inequalities in biomarkers of cardiovascular risk in adolescence. Psychosom Med. 2005; 67, 9–15.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Seeman, T, Merkin, SS, Crimmins, E, Koretz, B, Charette, S, Karlamangla, A.Education, income and ethnic differences in cumulative biological risk profiles in a national sample of US adults: NHANES III (1988–1994). Soc Sci Med. (1982) 2008; 66, 72–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldberg, DP, Gater, R, Sartorius, N, et al. The validity of two versions of the GHQ in the WHO study of mental illness in general health care. Psychol Med. 1997; 27, 191–197.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beckie, TM.A systematic review of allostatic load, health, and health disparities. Biol Res Nurs. 2012; 14, 311–346.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnson, SC, Cavallaro, FL, Leon, DA.A systematic review of allostatic load in relation to socioeconomic position: poor fidelity and major inconsistencies in biomarkers employed. Soc Sci Med. (1982) 2017; 192, 66–73.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Howard, JT, Sparks, PJ.Does allostatic load calculation method matter? Evaluation of different methods and individual biomarkers functioning by race/ethnicity and educational level. Am J Hum Biol: Off J HumBiol Counc. 2016; 28, 627–635.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCaffery, JM, Marsland, AL, Strohacker, K, Muldoon, MF, Manuck, SB.Factor structure underlying components of allostatic load. PLoS One 2012; 7, e47246.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Graham, JW, Olchowski, AE, Gilreath, TD.How many imputations are really needed? Some practical clarifications of multiple imputation theory. Prev Sci: Off J Soc Prev Res. 2007; 8, 206–213.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
R Core Team. R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing, 2018. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria.Google Scholar
van Buuren, S, Groothuis-Oudshoorn, K.MICE: multivariate imputation by chained equations in R. J Stat Software 2011; 45, 67.Google Scholar
Sabo, RT, Wang, A, Deng, Y, Sabo, CS, Sun, SS.Relationships between childhood growth parameters and adult blood pressure: the Fels Longitudinal Study. J Dev Origins Health Dis. 2017; 8, 113–122.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wells, JC, Chomtho, S, Fewtrell, MS.Programming of body composition by early growth and nutrition. Proc Nutr Soc. 2007; 66, 423–434.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Supplementary material: File

McGowan and Norris supplementary material

Tables S1-S12 and Figures S1-S2

Download McGowan and Norris supplementary material(File)
File 324.6 KB