A new way of predicting which young children are most at risk of eventually contracting
diabetes and heart disease in adult life is being developed by researchers at
Cambridge University - with help from
Bristol’s Children of the 90s.
Doctors have known for some time that there is a connection between a baby’s size at birth and the chances of developing some illnesses many years later.
Now they have shown that small babies who quickly catch up in size – and who are born with the insulin gene – may be at greatest risk of developing diabetes and heart problems. In future doctors would be able to advise the parents of toddlers about the risk and steps they should take now to avoid the illness.
The latest research, published in the medical journal Diabetes, involved over 1,000 children who are part of the Children of the 90s study (also known as the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children) based at the University of Bristol.
The researchers were most interested in the children who were of low birth weight to begin with but went on to catch up in size by the age of two; and this early growth pattern is typical of firstborn children. Measurements showed that the early catch-up infants tended to become children who were taller, heavier and fatter by the age of eight years.