Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T02:42:11.382Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Regional differences in birth size: a comparison between the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study and contemporaneous births on the Åland Islands

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2015

S. Sandboge*
Affiliation:
Folkhälsan Research Centre, Helsinki, Finland National Institute for Health and Welfare, Department of Chronic Disease Prevention, Helsinki, Finland
J. Fellman
Affiliation:
Hanken School of Economics, Helsinki, Finland
P. M. Nilsson
Affiliation:
Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden
A. W. Eriksson
Affiliation:
Folkhälsan Institute of Genetics, Department of Genetic Epidemiology, Helsinki, Finland
C. Osmond
Affiliation:
MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, University of Southampton, Southampton General Hospital, Southampton, UK
J. G. Eriksson
Affiliation:
Folkhälsan Research Centre, Helsinki, Finland National Institute for Health and Welfare, Department of Chronic Disease Prevention, Helsinki, Finland Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland Vaasa Central Hospital, Vaasa, Finland Unit of General Practice, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland
*
*Address for correspondence: S. Sandboge, Samfundet Folkhälsan i Svenska Finland, Folkhälsan Research Centre, Topeliuksenkatu 20, 00250 Helsinki, Finland. (Email [email protected])

Abstract

The Åland Islands were recently ranked as Finland’s healthiest region with lower prevalence of several non-communicable diseases compared with the national mean. We have compared birth characteristics of 1697 individuals born on the Åland Islands between 1937 and 1944 with contemporaneous data from the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study (HBCS; n=11,808). This is a first step towards a potential future analysis of Ålandic health from a life-course perspective. Mean birth weight and length were calculated for both cohorts. Birth weight was entered into a multiple linear regression model with sex, maternal age, marital status and birth year as predictors. Mean birth weight in the Åland cohort was 3499 g, 87 g (95% CI 62; 111) higher compared with the HBCS. Sex and maternal marital status were the strongest predictors of birth weight. More detailed studies are needed to explore the potential effects of this difference in average birth weight between cohorts.

Type
Brief Report
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press and the International Society for Developmental Origins of Health and Disease 2015 

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

1. Terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin laitos (Finnish National Insititute for Health and Welfare). THL:n sairastavuusindeksi. Terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin laitos; 2012. Retrieved 1 December 2014 from http://www.terveytemme.fi/sairastavuusindeksi/.Google Scholar
2. NOMESCO (Nordisk Medicinalstatistisk Komité). Health statistics for the Nordic countries 2011. Copenhagen: Nordisk Medicinalstatistisk Komité, 2011. Retrieved from http://nomesco-eng.nom-nos.dk/filer/publikationer/Helsstat 2011.pdf.Google Scholar
3. Koskinen, S, Martelin, T. Why is mortality low among the Swedish-speaking minority in Finland? In Yearbook of Population Research in Finland 2003; 39, 15–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4. Rich, DQ, Gaziano, JM, Kurth, T. Geographic patterns in overall and specific cardiovascular disease incidence in apparently healthy men in the United States. Stroke. 2007; 38, 22212227.Google Scholar
5. Rissanen, AM. Familial aggregation of coronary heart disease in a high incidence area (North Karelia, Finland). Br Heart J. 1979; 42, 294303.Google Scholar
6. Barker, D, Osmond, C, Golding, J, Kuh, D, Wadsworth, M. Growth in utero, blood pressure in childhood and adult life, and mortality from cardiovascular disease. BMJ. 1989; 298, 564.Google Scholar
7. Lawlor, DA, Ronalds, G, Clark, H, Smith, GD, Leon, DA. Birth Weight is inversely associated with incident coronary heart disease and stroke among individuals born in the 1950s findings from the Aberdeen Children of the 1950s prospective cohort study. Circulation. 2005; 112, 14141418.Google Scholar
8. Whincup, PH, Kaye, SJ, Owen, CG, et al. Birth weight and risk of type 2 diabetes: a systematic review. JAMA. 2008; 300, 28862897.Google Scholar
9. Fellman, J, Eriksson, AW. Birth weight among single and multiple births on the Åland Islands. Twin Res Hum Genet. 2013; 16, 739742.Google Scholar
10. Fellman, J, Eriksson, AW. Factors influencing birth weight on the Åland Islands (Finland). JP J Biostat. 2013; 9, 105118.Google Scholar
11. Fellman, J, Eriksson, AW. Birth weight distributions on the Åland Islands (Finland). JP J Biostat. 2013; 10, 4960.Google Scholar
12. Mielke, JH, Pitkänen, K, Jorde, LB, Fellman, JO, Eriksson, AW. Demographic patterns in the Aland Islands Finland 1750–1900. Yearbook Popul Res Finland. 1987; 25, 57–74.Google Scholar
13. Leon, DA, Lithell, HO, Vågerö, D, et al. Reduced fetal growth rate and increased risk of death from ischaemic heart disease: cohort study of 15,000 Swedish men and women born 1915–29. BMJ. 1998; 317, 241245.Google Scholar
14. Wang, SF, Shu, L, Sheng, J, et al. Birth weight and risk of coronary heart disease in adults: a meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies. J Dev Orig Health Dis. 2014; 5, 408419.Google Scholar
15. Risnes, K, Vatten, LJ, Baker, JL, et al. Birthweight and mortality in adulthood: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Int J Epidemiol. 2011; 40, 647661.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
16. Gluckman, PD, Hanson, MA, Cooper, C, Thornburg, KL. Effect of in utero and early-life conditions on adult health and disease. N Engl J Med. 2008; 359, 6173.Google Scholar
17. Lewis, R, Cleal, J, Hanson, MA. Review: placenta, evolution and lifelong health. Placenta. 2012; 33, S28S32.Google Scholar
18. Arho, AO. Anthropologische untersuchungen in den landschaften Åland und Varsinais-Suomi. Ann Acad Sci Fenn. Series A, 40(2). 1934. Finnish Academy of Sciences and Letters, Helsinki.Google Scholar
19. Sievers, HRO. Studier över isoagglutinationen med särskild hänsyn till blodgruppernas fördelning inom svenska Finland. 1927. Centraltryckeri och bokbinderi a/b: Helsinki.Google Scholar
20. Eriksson, AW, Fellman, J, Forsius, HR. Some genetic and clinical aspects of the Åland Islanders. In Population Structure and Genetic Disorders (eds. Eriksson AW, Forsius HR, Nevanlinna HR, Workman PL, Norio RK), 1980; pp. 509536. Academic Press: London.Google Scholar
21. Eriksson, M, Lindström, B, Lilja, J. A sense of coherence and health. Salutogenesis in a societal context: Åland, a special case? J Epidemiol Community Health. 2007; 61, 684688.Google Scholar
22. Hyyppä, MT, Mäki, J. Why do Swedish-speaking Finns have longer active life? An area for social capital research. Health Promot Int. 2001; 16, 5564.Google Scholar
23. Eriksson, JG, Forsen, T, Tuomilehto, J, Osmond, C, Barker, DJ. Early growth and coronary heart disease in later life: longitudinal study. BMJ. 2001; 322, 949.Google Scholar
24. Kajantie, E, Osmond, C, Barker, DJ, et al. Size at birth as a predictor of mortality in adulthood: a follow-up of 350,000 person-years. Int J Epidemiol. 2005; 34, 655663.Google Scholar
25. Central Statistical Office of Finland. Statistical Yearbook of Finland 1942. 1943. Central Statistical Office of Finland: Helsinki.Google Scholar
26. Central Statistical Office of Finland. Statistical Yearbook of Finland 1944–45. 1946. Central Statistical Office of Finland: Helsinki.Google Scholar
27. Central Statistical Office of Finland. Statistical Yearbook of Finland 1946–47. 1948. Central Statistical Office of Finland: Helsinki.Google Scholar
28. Rotkirch, H. The demilitarization and neutralization of the Åland Islands: a regime ‘in European interests’ withstanding changing circumstances. J Peace Res. 1986; 23, 357376.Google Scholar