Reduced Prenatal Weight Gain and/or Augmented Postnatal Weight Gain Precedes Polycystic Ovary Syndrome in Adolescent Girls

5 years ago

Reduced Prenatal Weight Gain and/or Augmented Postnatal Weight Gain Precedes Polycystic Ovary Syndrome in Adolescent Girls

Thomas Reinehr, Lourdes Ibáñez, Rita Malpique, Francis de Zegher, Feyza Darendeliler, Abel López-Bermejo

Objective Hepato-visceral fat excess is a feature of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Risk factors for such excess include low prenatal weight gain and high postnatal weight gain. This study examined whether adolescent PCOS was preceded by a relatively low birth weight and/or a relatively high BMI at diagnosis. Methods Study participants included 467 girls with PCOS (298 without obesity and 169 with obesity), diagnosed, respectively, in Spain and Germany; 87 healthy girls were controls. Z scores for weight at birth and BMI at PCOS diagnosis were derived, and their differences were calculated. Results Spanish girls with PCOS and without obesity and German girls with PCOS and obesity had mean birth weight z scores of −0.7 and 0.0, respectively, and mean BMI z scores of + 0.4 and +2.7, respectively, so that mean z score increments amounted to +1.1 and +2.6 (P < 0.001 vs. controls). Conclusions PCOS in adolescent girls was preceded by marked z score increments between weight at birth and BMI at PCOS diagnosis, thus corroborating the notion that PCOS development is driven by a mismatch between prenatal weight gain and postnatal weight gain.

Publisher URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/resolve/doi

DOI: 10.1002/oby.21935