Holroyd, C.R., Osmond, C., Barker, D.J., Ring, S., Lawlor, D.A., Tobias, J.H., Davey Smith, G., Cooper, C. and Harvey, N.C. (2016) Placental size is associated differently with postnatal bone size and density. Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, 31 (10), 1855-1864. (doi:10.1002/jbmr.2840). (PMID:26999363)
Abstract
We investigated relationships between placental size and offspring adolescent bone indices using a population-based mother-offspring cohort. The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) recruited pregnant women from the South West of England between 1991 and 1993. 12,942 singleton babies were born at term and survived at least the first 12-months and from these, 8933 placentas were preserved in formaldehyde, with maternal permission for their use in research studies. At approximately 15.5 years the children underwent a DXA [Dual energy X-ray Absorptiometry) scan (measurements taken of whole body minus head bone area (BA), bone mineral content (BMC), and areal bone mineral density (aBMD)]. A pQCT (peripheral quantitative computed tomography) scan (Stratec XCT2000L) at the 50% tibial site was performed at this visit and at approximately 17.7 years. In 2010 a sample of 1,680 placentas were measured and photographed. To enable comparison of effect size across different variables, predictor and outcome variables were standardised to z-scores and therefore results may be interpreted as partial correlation coefficients. Complete placental, DXA and pQCT data were available for 518 children at 15.5 years. After adjustment for sex, gestational age at birth and age at time of pQCT, placental area was positively associated with endosteal circumference [? (95% CI): 0.21 (0.13, 0.30), p?<?0.001], periosteal circumference [? (95% CI): 0.19 (0.10, 0.27), p?<?0.001] and cortical area [? (95%CI): 0.10 (0.01, 0.18), p?=?0.03], and was negatively associated with cortical density [? (95%CI): -0.11 (-0.20, -0.03), p?=?0.01] at age 15.5 years. Similar relationships were observed for placental volume, and after adjustment for additional maternal and offspring covariates. These results suggest that previously observed associations between placental size and offspring bone development persist into older childhood, even during puberty, and that placental size is differentially related to bone size and volumetric density
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