Division of Applied Life Sciences, Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Kyoto Prefectural University.
Tohoku J Exp Med. 2013 Oct;231(2):85-91. doi: 10.1620/tjem.231.85.
In Japan, the rate of low birth weight infants has increased, due to an increase in the number of women who smoke or are lean. A recent study showed that low birth weight was associated with a high adult waist-to-height ratio in adult Japanese women, but little data is available concerning children. In this cross-sectional study with 568 subjects (276 boys and 292 girls), we examined the association between birth weight and waist-to-height ratio in 7- or 8-year-old Japanese children, all born at full term. The mothers of the subjects responded to a questionnaire about the weight of the children at birth, and physical data were collected from the results of measurements conducted at each school. We divided the subjects into two groups by the median of the birth weight (3,000 g) by sex to elucidate the effects of birth weight on the waist-to-height ratio. There were 119 boys and 164 girls and 157 boys and 128 girls in the < 3,000 g and ≥ 3,000 g birth weight groups, respectively. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare the physical conditions in the two birth weight categories. Height was significantly lower in the birth weight < 3,000 g group among both the boys (P < 0.001) and girls (P < 0.001). The waist-to-height ratio was significantly higher in the < 3,000 g group in girls (P = 0.004), but not in the boys. Our results suggest that intrauterine environmental insults might have an effect on children, depending on sex.
在日本，由于吸烟或消瘦的女性人数增加，低出生体重婴儿的比例有所上升。最近的一项研究表明，低出生体重与日本成年女性的高成人腰高比相关，但有关儿童的数据较少。在这项对 568 名受试者（276 名男孩和 292 名女孩）的横断面研究中，我们检查了足月出生的 7 或 8 岁日本儿童的出生体重与腰高比之间的关系。受试者的母亲回答了关于孩子出生体重的问卷，身体数据是从每个学校的测量结果中收集的。我们按性别将受试者的出生体重（3000 克）中位数分为两组，以阐明出生体重对腰高比的影响。<3000 克和≥3000 克出生体重组分别有 119 名男孩和 164 名女孩，157 名男孩和 128 名女孩。使用曼-惠特尼 U 检验比较两组的身体状况。男孩（P<0.001）和女孩（P<0.001）中，出生体重<3000 克组的身高明显较低。女孩中<3000 克组的腰高比明显较高（P=0.004），但男孩中并非如此。我们的研究结果表明，宫内环境的不良影响可能因性别而异而对儿童产生影响。
