TY  - JOUR
A1  - Chen, You-Peng
A1  - Xiao, Xiao-Min
A1  - Li, Jian
A1  - Reichetzeder, Christoph
A1  - Wang, Zi-Neng
A1  - Hocher, Berthold
T1  - Paternal body mass index (BMI) is associated with offspring intrauterine growth in a gender dependent manner
T2  - PLoS one
N2  - Background: Environmental alternations leading to fetal programming of cardiovascular diseases in later life have been attributed to maternal factors. However, animal studies showed that paternal obesity may program cardio-metabolic diseases in the offspring. In the current study we tested the hypothesis that paternal BMI may be associated with fetal growth.
 Methods and Results: We analyzed the relationship between paternal body mass index (BMI) and birth weight, ultrasound parameters describing the newborn's body shape as well as parameters describing the newborns endocrine system such as cortisol, aldosterone, renin activity and fetal glycated serum protein in a birth cohort of 899 father/mother/child triplets. Since fetal programming is an offspring sex specific process, male and female offspring were analyzed separately. Multivariable regression analyses considering maternal BMI, paternal and maternal age, hypertension during pregnancy, maternal total glycated serum protein, parity and either gestational age (for birth weight) or time of ultrasound investigation (for ultrasound parameters) as confounding showed that paternal BMI is associated with growth of the male but not female offspring. Paternal BMI correlated with birth parameters of male offspring only: birth weight; biparietal diameter, head circumference; abdominal diameter, abdominal circumference; and pectoral diameter. Cortisol was likewise significantly correlated with paternal BMI in male newborns only.
 Conclusions: Paternal BMI affects growth of the male but not female offspring. Paternal BMI may thus represent a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases of male offspring in later life. It remains to be demonstrated whether this is linked to an offspring sex specific paternal programming of cortisol secretion.
Y1  - 2012
UR  - https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/35909
SN  - 1932-6203
VL  - 7
IS  - 5
PB  - PLoS
CY  - San Fransisco
ER  -