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Prenatal and childhood growth and physical performance in old age—findings from the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study 1934–1944

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Abstract

Health in adulthood is in part a consequence of development and growth taking place during sensitive periods in early life. It has not been explored previously whether early growth is associated with physical performance in old age from a life course perspective taking into account health-related behavior, biological risk factors, and early life experiences. At a mean age of 71 years, physical performance was assessed using the Senior Fitness Test (SFT) in 1078 individuals belonging to the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study. We used multiple linear regression analysis to assess the association between the SFT physical fitness scores and individual life course measurements. Several adult characteristics were associated with physical performance including socioeconomic status, lifestyle factors, and adult anthropometry. Higher birth weight and length were associated with better physical performance, even after adjusting for potential confounders (all p values <0.05). The strongest individual association between life course measurements and physical performance in old age was found for adult body fat percentage. However, prenatal growth was independently associated with physical performance seven decades later. These findings suggest that physical performance in old age is at least partly programmed in early life.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chronic Disease Prevention Unit, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland

    Johan G. Eriksson, Mia-Maria Perälä, Minna K. Salonen & Eero Kajantie

  2. Folkhälsan Research Center, Helsinki, Finland

    Johan G. Eriksson, Mia-Maria Perälä, Minna K. Salonen, Mika Simonen & Mikaela B. von Bonsdorff

  3. Department of General Practice and Primary Health, Care and Helsinki University Hospital, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 20, 00014, Helsinki, Finland

    Johan G. Eriksson

  4. MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, University of Southampton, Southampton General Hospital, Southampton, UK

    Clive Osmond

  5. Department of Social Research, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Mika Simonen

  6. Age Institute, Helsinki, Finland

    Pertti Pohjolainen

  7. Children’s Hospital, Helsinki University Hospital and University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Eero Kajantie

  8. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, MRC Oulu, Oulu University Hospital and University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland

    Eero Kajantie

  9. Gerontology Research Center and Department of Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland

    Taina Rantanen & Mikaela B. von Bonsdorff

Authors
  1. Johan G. Eriksson
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  2. Clive Osmond
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  3. Mia-Maria Perälä
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  4. Minna K. Salonen
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  5. Mika Simonen
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  6. Pertti Pohjolainen
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  7. Eero Kajantie
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  8. Taina Rantanen
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  9. Mikaela B. von Bonsdorff
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Johan G. Eriksson.

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Funding

HBCS has been supported by grants from Finska Läkaresällskapet, the Finnish Special Governmental Subsidy for Health Sciences, Academy of Finland, Samfundet Folkhälsan, Liv och Hälsa, the Signe and Ane Gyllenberg Foundation, and EU FP7 (DORIAN) project number 278603. MBvB was supported by the Academy of Finland grant no. 257239. EU H2020-PHC-2014-DynaHealth, Grant no. 633595.

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Eriksson, J.G., Osmond, C., Perälä, MM. et al. Prenatal and childhood growth and physical performance in old age—findings from the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study 1934–1944. AGE 37, 108 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11357-015-9846-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11357-015-9846-1

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