Birth weight, gestational age and late adolescent liver function using twin status as instrumental variable in a Hong Kong Chinese birth cohort: “Children of 1997”

Jun Xi Liu, Shiu Lun Au Yeung, Man Ki Kwok, June Yue Yan Leung, Shi Lin Lin, Lai Ling Hui, Gabriel Matthew Leung, C. Mary Schooling

Research output: Journal article publicationJournal articleAcademic researchpeer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Birth weight (BW) is inversely associated with diabetes and liver function in Mendelian Randomization studies. Observationally, lower BW is usually also associated with poorer liver function. However, these studies could be confounded by socioeconomic position. Here we assessed if BW is associated with liver function in a unique population with little socio-economic patterning of BW, using both instrumental variable and an observational analysis. We used instrumental variable analysis (IVA) to assess the association of BW with liver function (alanine transaminase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), bilirubin, and albumin) at ~17 years with twin status as an instrumental variable in the prospective population-representative “Children of 1997” birth cohort (n = 8327). We also conducted an observational analysis adjusted for sex, maternal age, maternal migrant status, smoking and parental socio-economic position. A generalized linear model with gamma family was used for ALT, ALP, and bilirubin because they are not normally distributed. Using IVA, BW was not associated with ALT, ALP or bilirubin, but was possibly negatively associated with albumin (−1.12 g/L, 95% confidence interval (CI) −2.08 to −0.16). Observationally, BW was negatively associated with ALT (−1.23 IU/L, 95% CI −2.16 to −0.30), ALP (−1.72 IU/L, 95% CI −3.43 to −0.01) and higher albumin (−0.23 g/L, 95% CI −0.40 to −0.06). Poor liver function may be a pathway by which the risks of lower BW are actuated. This insight might help identify post-natal targets of intervention to mitigate the adverse health effects of lower birth weight.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)190-197
Number of pages8
JournalPreventive Medicine
Volume111
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2018
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Birth weight
  • Epidemiology
  • Instrumental variable analysis
  • Liver function
  • Twin status

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Epidemiology
  • Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

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