The sequence of prenatal growth restraint and postnatal catch-up growth: normal heart but thicker intima-media and more pre-peritoneal fat in late infancy

Background The sequence of prenatal growth restraint and postnatal catch-up growth leads to a thicker intima-media and more pre-peritoneal fat by age 3-6 years. Objectives To study whether carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) and pre-peritoneal fat differ already between catch-up small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infants and appropriate-for-gestational-age (AGA) controls in late infancy (ages 1 and 2 years) and whether such differences - if any - are accompanied by differences in cardiac morphology and function. Methods Longitudinal assessments included body height and weight; fasting glucose, insulin, Insulin-like growth factor (IGF-I), high-molecular-weight adiponectin; body composition (by absorptiometry); cIMT, aortic IMT, pre-peritoneal fat partitioning (by ultrasound); cardiac morphometry and function (by echocardiography) in AGA and SGA infants at birth, at age 1 year (N = 87), and again at age 2 years (N = 68). Results Catch-up SGA infants had already a thicker cIMT than AGA controls at ages 1 and 2 years, and more pre-peritoneal fat by age 2 years (all p values between <0.01 and <0.0001); all cardiac and endocrine-metabolic results were similar in AGA and SGA infants at ages 1 and 2 years. Conclusions From late infancy onwards, catch-up SGA infants have a thicker cIMT and more pre-peritoneal fat than AGA controls, but their cardiac morphology and function remain reassuringly similar.