Göpel Wolfgang, Lüders Carla, Heinze Katharina, Rausch Tanja K, Fortmann Ingmar, Szymczak Silke, König Inke R, Herting Egbert, Hanke Kathrin
Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany; Institute of Medical Biometry and Statistics, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany.
Dtsch Arztebl Int. 2025 Feb 7;122(3):65-70. doi: 10.3238/arztebl.m2024.0253.
Prematurely born individuals are usually of low or normal weight in childhood; in adulthood, however, their probability of being overweight is twice that of persons born at full term. There is not yet any way to predict the weight development of premature babies.
A polygenic BMI score (BMI = body-mass index), calculated from the often very small individual effects of more than 2 million genetic variants, was recently described for adults. We studied the possible association of this score with the course of BMI in premature babies over time, from infancy up to the age of 10-14 years.
508 individuals were included in the study. At the age of 5-7 years, their mean body weight was 18.8 ± 3.3 kg. The difference between the highest and lowest deciles of the polygenic score was 3.3 kg. At age 10-14, the average body weight was 41.3 ± 11.3 kg, and the difference between the highest and lowest deciles had increased to 9.2 kg. In persons with birth weight under the 10th percentile (n = 68), the difference was 19.2 kg (30.9 kg vs. 50.1 kg). The polygenic BMI score was significantly associated with the BMI z-scores of the overall group and the subgroup of growth-retarded children.
Extreme values of a polygenic BMI score are strongly associated with the weight development of preterm infants as they develop into children aged 10-14. The large effect size implies that this score may aid in the counseling of prematurely born children and their parents.
早产个体在儿童期通常体重偏低或正常；然而在成年期，他们超重的概率是足月出生者的两倍。目前尚无预测早产婴儿体重发展的方法。
最近针对成年人描述了一种多基因体重指数评分（BMI = 体重指数），它由超过200万个基因变异的微小个体效应计算得出。我们研究了该评分与早产婴儿从婴儿期到10 - 14岁期间BMI变化过程的可能关联。
508名个体纳入研究。在5 - 7岁时，他们的平均体重为18.8 ± 3.3千克。多基因评分最高和最低十分位数之间的差异为3.3千克。在10 - 14岁时，平均体重为41.3 ± 11.3千克，最高和最低十分位数之间的差异增加到9.2千克。出生体重在第10百分位数以下的人（n = 68），差异为19.2千克（30.9千克对50.1千克）。多基因BMI评分与总体组以及生长发育迟缓儿童亚组的BMI z评分显著相关。
多基因BMI评分的极值与早产婴儿成长为10 - 14岁儿童期间的体重发展密切相关。较大的效应量表明该评分可能有助于为早产儿童及其父母提供咨询。
