Early BMI Gain and Later Height Growth Predicts Higher DHEAS Concentrations in 7-Year-Old Chilean Children

Abstract

Background: Accelerated weight and height gain in infancy have been associated with premature adrenarche. However, the exact tempo of these events remains undefined. Thus, our goal was to assess the relationship between early BMI and height growth in different periods before 7 years of age and plasma DHEAS levels at 7 years of age. Methods: This is a longitudinal follow-up of participants of the Growth and Obesity Chilean Cohort Study (GOCS) that represents Chilean children from low- to middle-income families. The subjects were 972 children (48% girls) with birth weights of 2,500–4,500 g for whom serial weight and height measurements from birth until 7 years were available. At 7 years of age, we also measured DHEAS, IGF-I, leptin, insulin, and other metabolic markers in serum. The main outcome of interest was plasma DHEAS concentrations at 7 years of age. Results: At 7 years of age, children with DHEAS >75th percentile of the sample were taller and fatter and presented higher HOMA-IR and IGF-I than their counterparts ( p < 0.05). Children with higher DHEAS were heavier at 4 years of age and beyond compared to their counterparts (higher BMI [BMI SDS at 4 years: 1.16, 95% CI 1.02–1.29 vs. 0.83, 95% CI 0.76– 0.91, p < 0.001]) and taller at 7 years of age (height SDS at 7 years: 0.19, 95% CI –0.08 to 0.31 vs. –0.001, 95% CI –0.06 to 0.06, p < 0.005). Conclusions : We observed weight and BMI from 2 to 4 years, and height gains from 4 to 7 years were associated with higher DHEAS levels at 7 years.