Cord Blood Metabolite Profiles and Childhood Cardio-Metabolic Outcomes in a Population-Based Cohort.

INTRODUCTION

Adverse exposures in utero might cause adaptations of cardiovascular and metabolic organ development, predisposing individuals to an adverse cardio-metabolic risk profile from childhood onwards. We hypothesized that adaptations in metabolic pathways underlie these associations and examined associations of metabolite profiles at birth with childhood cardio-metabolic risk factors.

METHODS

The study included 763 mother-child pairs participating in an ongoing population-based prospective cohort study with an overall low disease risk. Cord blood serum concentrations of amino acids (AAs), nonesterified fatty acids, phospholipids and carnitines (Carn) were obtained using a liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass-spectrometry. We measured android/gynoid fat mass ratio, blood pressure, insulin, and lipid concentrations at the children's age of 5.9 (0.3) and 9.8 (0.9) years.

RESULTS

We did not observe associations of cord blood metabolites with systolic or diastolic blood pressure, insulin, triglycerides, and android/gynoid fat mass ratio at both ages and cardio-metabolic risk clustering at age 10 years. Five short- and medium-chain Carn.a metabolites were positively associated with cardio-metabolic risk clustering at age 6 but did not survive more stringent confounder adjustment.

CONCLUSION

No consistent associations between cord blood metabolites and cardiovascular risk factors at school age were observed.