Maternal antenatal vitamin D status and offspring muscle development: findings from the Southampton Women's Survey

Harvey, N.C., Moon, R.J., Sayer, A.A., Ntani, G., Davies, J.H., Javaid, M.K., Robinson, S.M., Godfrey, K.M., Inskip, H.M. and Cooper, C. (2014) Maternal antenatal vitamin D status and offspring muscle development: findings from the Southampton Women's Survey. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 99 (1), 330-337. (doi:10.1210/jc.2013-3241).

Abstract

Context: maternal 25-hydroxy-vitamin D [25(OH)D] status in pregnancy has been associated with offspring bone development and adiposity. Vitamin D has also been implicated in postnatal muscle function but little is known about a role for antenatal 25(OH)D exposure in programming muscle development.

Objective: we investigated the associations between maternal plasma 25(OH)D status at 34 weeks gestation and offspring lean mass and muscle strength at 4 years of age.

Design and setting: a prospective UK population-based mother-offspring cohort: the Southampton Women’s Survey (SWS).

Participants: 12583 non-pregnant women were initially recruited into SWS, of which 3159 had singleton pregnancies. 678 mother-child pairs were included in this analysis.

Main outcomes measured: at 4 years of age, offspring assessments included hand grip strength (Jamar Dynamometer) and whole body DXA (Hologic Discovery) yielding lean mass and %lean mass. Physical activity was assessed by 7-day accelerometry (Actiheart) in a subset of children (n=326).

Results: maternal serum 25(OH)D concentration in pregnancy was positively associated with offspring height-adjusted hand grip strength (?=0.10 SD/SD, p=0.013), which persisted after adjustment for maternal confounding factors, duration of breastfeeding and child’s physical activity at 4 years (?=0.13 SD/SD, p=0.014). Maternal 25(OH)D was also positively associated with offspring %lean mass (?=0.11 SD/SD, p=0.006), but not total lean mass (?=0.06, p=0.15). This however did not persist after adjustment for confounding factors (?=0.09 SD/SD, p=0.11).

Conclusions: this observational study suggests that intrauterine exposure to 25(OH)D during late pregnancy might influence offspring muscle development through an effect primarily on muscle strength rather than muscle mass

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Contributors

Author: N.C. Harvey

Author: S.M. Robinson

Author: K.M. Godfrey

Author: H.M. Inskip

Author: C. Cooper

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