Associations Between Fetal Growth and Self-Perceived Health Throughout Adulthood: A Co-twin Control Study

Lifecourse correlates of self-rated health and associations with subsequent mortality: findings from the Hertfordshire Cohort Study

Background

Poor self-rated health (SRH) has been shown to predict adverse health outcomes among older people, however these associations have traditionally only been considered at one point in the lifecourse, usually midlife or later. Here we examined lifecourse correlates of SRH in early, mid and later life, relating these to subsequent risk of mortality in a community-dwelling cohort.

Methods

2989 men and women from the Hertfordshire Cohort Study (HCS) were included in this study. The HCS was initially retrospective and linked contemporary health outcome data to early life data available from health ledgers but investigations from baseline (1998-2004, aged 59-73) onwards have been prospective. At baseline, participants completed an initial clinic visit, which included questionnaire assessment of SRH, reported as 'excellent', 'very good', 'good', 'fair', or 'poor'. Socioeconomic, lifestyle, mental health and demographic information was also collected. Deaths were recorded from baseline to 31/12/2018. Baseline characteristics in relation to SRH were examined using sex-stratified ordinal logistic regression; these factors were examined in relation to mortality using sex-stratified Cox regression. Statistically significant exposures were then included in sex-stratified mutually-adjusted models.

Results

In mutually-adjusted analysis, numerous contemporaneous correlates of poorer SRH in the seventh decade were identified and included obesity, lower physical activity, greater comorbidity and higher levels of depression among men and women. For example, odds ratios for being in a lower category of SRH were as follows: obese (BMI≥30) vs underweight/healthy (BMI<25) (men 1.60 (1.21, 2.11), women 1.65 (1.25, 2.17)) and per additional system medicated (men 1.62 (1.47, 1.77), women 1.53 (1.41, 1.66)). By contrast, factors earlier in the lifecourse (early growth, age left full-time education) were not associated with SRH in late adulthood. 36% of men and 26% of women died during follow-up. Hazard ratios (95% CI) for mortality per lower category of SRH were 1.22 (1.10,1.36) among men and 1.17 (1.01,1.35) among women after adjustment for age, BMI, smoking, physical activity, diet quality, education, home ownership status, comorbidity level and depression levels, suggesting residual confounding by other unrecorded factors that are related to SRH.

Conclusions

Poorer SRH in the seventh decade was a risk factor for mortality. Importantly modifiable adverse health behaviours in the seventh decade, such as low physical activity, were associated with poorer SRH and later mortality after adjustment for socioeconomic factors and comorbidity level. By contrast early growth and education were not related to later SRH. These data suggest that attention to lifestyle in late midlife may be associated with better SRH and subsequent health outcomes, highlighting the value of intervention at this stage of the lifecourse.

IGEMS: The Consortium on Interplay of Genes and Environment Across Multiple Studies - An Update

The Interplay of Genes and Environment across Multiple Studies (IGEMS) is a consortium of 18 twin studies from 5 different countries (Sweden, Denmark, Finland, United States, and Australia) established to explore the nature of gene-environment (GE) interplay in functioning across the adult lifespan. Fifteen of the studies are longitudinal, with follow-up as long as 59 years after baseline. The combined data from over 76,000 participants aged 14-103 at intake (including over 10,000 monozygotic and over 17,000 dizygotic twin pairs) support two primary research emphases: (1) investigation of models of GE interplay of early life adversity, and social factors at micro and macro environmental levels and with diverse outcomes, including mortality, physical functioning and psychological functioning; and (2) improved understanding of risk and protective factors for dementia by incorporating unmeasured and measured genetic factors with a wide range of exposures measured in young adulthood, midlife and later life.

Additive drug-specific and sex-specific risks associated with co-use of marijuana and tobacco during pregnancy: Evidence from 3 recent developmental cohorts (2003-2015)

BACKGROUND

Methodologic challenges related to the concomitant use (co-use) of substances and changes in policy and potency of marijuana contribute to ongoing uncertainty about risks to fetal neurodevelopment associated with prenatal marijuana use. In this study, we examined two biomarkers of fetal neurodevelopmental risk-birth weight and length of gestation-associated with prenatal marijuana use, independent of tobacco (TOB), alcohol (ALC), other drug use (OTH), and socioeconomic risk (SES), in a pooled sample (N = 1191) derived from 3 recent developmental cohorts (2003-2015) with state-of-the-art substance use measures. We examined differential associations by infant sex, and multiplicative effects associated with co-use of MJ and TOB.

METHODS

Participants were mother-infant dyads with complete data on all study variables derived from Growing Up Healthy (n = 251), Behavior and Mood in Babies and Mothers (Cohorts 1 and 2; n = 315), and the Early Growth and Development Study (N = 625). We estimated direct effects on birth weight and length of gestation associated with MJ, TOB, and co-use (MJ x TOB), using linear regression analysis in the full sample, and in male (n = 654) and female (n = 537) infants, separately.

RESULTS

Mean birth weight and length of gestation were 3277 g (SD = 543) and 37.8 weeks (SD = 2.0), respectively. Rates of prenatal use were as follows: any use, n = 748 (62.8%); MJ use, n = 273 (22.9%); TOB use, n = 608 (51.0%); co-use of MJ and TOB, n = 230 (19.3%); ALC use, n = 464 (39.0%); and OTH use n = 115 (9.7%.) For all infants, unique effects on birth weight were observed for any MJ use [B(SE) = -84.367(38.271), 95% C.I. -159.453 to -9.281, p = .028], any TOB use [B(SE) = -0.99.416(34.418), 95% C.I. -166.942 to -31.889, p = .004], and each cigarette/day in mean TOB use [B(SE) = -12.233(3.427), 95% C.I. -18.995 to -5.510, p < .001]. Additional effects of co-use on birth weight, beyond these drug-specific effects, were not supported. In analyses stratified by sex, while TOB use was associated with lower birth weight in both sexes, MJ use during pregnancy was associated with lower birth weight of male infants [B(SE) = -153.1 (54.20); 95% C.I. -259.5 to -46.7, p = .005], but not female infants [B(SE) = 8.3(53.1), 95% C.I. -96.024 to 112.551, p = .876]. TOB, MJ, and their co-use were not associated with length of gestation.

CONCLUSIONS

In this sample, intrauterine co-exposure to MJ and TOB was associated with an estimated 18% reduction in birth weight not attributable to earlier delivery, exposure to ALC or OTH drugs, nor to maternal SES. We found evidence for greater susceptibility of male fetuses to any prenatal MJ exposure. Examination of dose-dependence in relationships found in this study, using continuous measures of exposure, is an important next step. Finally, we underscore the need to consider (a) the potential moderating influence of fetal sex on exposure-related neurodevelopmental risks; and (b) the importance of quantifying expressions of risk through subtle alterations, rather than dichotomous outcomes.

The Importance of the Prenatal Environment in Behavioral Genetics: Introduction to Special Issue

We introduce and discuss a special issue on prenatal factors in genetics research, that includes 14 papers ranging from studies on chorionicity, smoking during pregnancy, and more general prenatal risks to papers about theory, methods and measurement. There are two review papers, one focused on chorioncity and the second on pre- and perinatal ischemia-hypoxia, that help to frame the state of research in these areas with a focus on the relevance across multiple fields of study. Taken together, these papers clearly demonstrate the importance of considering prenatal environment influences on functioning in offspring across the lifespan while also underscoring the importance of using genetically informed designs as a means to clarify causality.

Estimating the Roles of Genetic Risk, Perinatal Risk, and Marital Hostility on Early Childhood Adjustment: Medical Records and Self-Reports

A wide variety of perinatal risk factors have been linked to later developmental outcomes in children. Much of this work has relied on either birth/medical records or mothers' self-reports collected after delivery, and there has been an ongoing debate about which strategy provides the most accurate and reliable data. This report uses a parent-offspring adoption design (N = 561 families) to (1) examine the correspondence between medical record data and self-report data, (2) examine how perinatal risk factors may influence child internalizing and externalizing behavior at age 4.5 years, and (3) explore interactions among genetic, perinatal risk, and rearing environment on child internalizing and externalizing behavior during early childhood. The agreement of self-reports and medical records data was relatively high (51-100 %), although there was some variation based on the construct. There were few main effects of perinatal risk on child outcomes; however, there were several 2- and 3-way interactions suggesting that the combined influences of genetic, perinatal, and rearing environmental risks are important, particularly for predicting whether children exhibit internalizing versus externalizing symptoms at age 4.5 years.