School of Business and Economics, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland.
School of Business and Economics, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland.
Prev Med. 2022 Jan;154:106894. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2021.106894. Epub 2021 Nov 19.
This study quantifies the causal effect of birth weight on cardiovascular biomarkers in adulthood using the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study (YFS). We apply a multivariable Mendelian randomization (MVMR) method that provides a novel approach to improve inference in causal analysis based on a mediation framework. The results show that birth weight is linked to triglyceride levels (β = -0.294; 95% CI [-0.591, 0.003]) but not to low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels (β = 0.007; 95% CI [-0.168, 0.183]). The total effect of birth weight on triglyceride levels is partly offset by a mediation pathway linking birth weight to adult BMI (β = 0.111; 95% CI [-0.013, 0.234]). The negative total effect is consistent with the fetal programming hypothesis. The positive indirect effect via adult BMI highlights the persistence of body weight throughout a person's life and the adverse effects of high BMI on health. The results are consistent with previous findings that both low birth weight and weight gain increase health risks in adulthood.
本研究利用《芬兰年轻人心血管风险研究》（YFS）量化了出生体重对成年人心血管生物标志物的因果效应。我们应用了一种多变量孟德尔随机化（MVMR）方法，该方法为基于中介框架的因果分析提供了一种改进推断的新方法。研究结果表明，出生体重与甘油三酯水平相关（β=-0.294；95%CI[-0.591，0.003]），但与低密度脂蛋白（LDL）胆固醇水平无关（β=0.007；95%CI[-0.168，0.183]）。出生体重对甘油三酯水平的总效应部分被出生体重与成人 BMI 之间的中介途径所抵消（β=0.111；95%CI[-0.013，0.234]）。这种负的总效应与胎儿编程假说一致。通过成人 BMI 的正向间接效应突出了体重在人的一生的持续性，以及 BMI 升高对健康的不利影响。这些结果与之前的研究结果一致，即低出生体重和体重增加都会增加成年期的健康风险。
