Low birth weight children may be at a greater risk of stress-related health
problems as adults, according to a new study accepted for publication in the
Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).
Findings from this study show that low birth weight (below the 10th
percentile) can lead later in life to low concentrations of cortisol, a hormone
that regulates stress response by adjusting blood pressure and blood sugar
levels. An imbalance in cortisol can result in a host of common adult diseases,
such as coronary heart disease and diabetes. This study indicates that there may
be a link between fetal life conditions and adult disease.
"The study showed that people who were born with low birth weight, now
between the ages of 60 to 70, have a much lower cortisol response to stress than
those with average birth weights," said Ero Kajantie, M.D., Ph. D., a senior
researcher at the National Public Health Institute in Helsinki, Finland, and
lead author of the study. "People with low birth weight may be more vulnerable
to long-lasting effects of psychosocial stress, which may lead to low cortisol
stress response."
In this study, 287 men and women born between 1934 and 1944 underwent a
standardized psychosocial stressor (a stress test) in conjunction with having
their cortisol and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) concentrations measured.
Researchers found the lowest cortisol and ACTH concentrations were seen in
subjects with the lowest birth weights.
Studies in humans and animals have suggested fetal life conditions and adult
disease are linked through the intrauterine programming of the
hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPAA). HPAA refers to the complex set of
interactions between the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and adrenal gland. This
set of interactions controls stress response, and regulates various body
processes, including digestion, the immune system, mood and sexuality, and
energy usage.