Increasing maternal age is associated with taller stature and reduced abdominal fat in their children.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Maternal age at childbirth continues to increase worldwide. We aimed to assess whether increasing maternal age is associated with changes in childhood height, body composition, and metabolism. METHODS: 277 healthy pre-pubertal children, born 37-41 weeks gestation were studied. Assessments included: height and weight corrected for parental measurements, DEXA-derived body composition, fasting lipids, glucose, insulin, and hormonal profiles. Subjects were separated according to maternal age at childbirth: 35 years. RESULTS: Our cohort consisted of 126 girls and 151 boys, aged 7.4 ± 2.2 years (range 3-10); maternal age at childbirth was 33.3 ± 4.7 years (range 19-44). Children of mothers aged >35 and 30-35 years at childbirth were taller than children of mothers aged 35 years at childbirth were 0.61 SDS slimmer than those of mothers 35 (p = 0.036) years at childbirth had abdominal adiposity reduced by 10% and 13%, respectively, compared to those in the 35 (8.1%; p = 0.005) compared to those of mothers aged <30 years. Girls of mothers aged 30-35 years at childbirth also displayed improved HOMA-IR insulin sensitivity (p = 0.010) compared to girls born to mothers aged <30 years. CONCLUSIONS: Increasing maternal age at childbirth is associated with a more favourable phenotype (taller stature and reduced abdominal fat) in their children, as well as improved insulin sensitivity in girls.