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Preterm infants show increased adiponectin levels in first weeks of life
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In very preterm infants, blood concentrations of adiponectin appear to increase significantly within the first 3 weeks of life, according to recent findings.
In an in-hospital, prospective, longitudinal cohort study, Chatarina Löfqvist, PhD, of The Queen Silvia Children’s Hospital in Sweden, and colleagues evaluated 52 preterm infants born at Skane University Hospital in Sweden. The infants had a gestational age of 26 weeks and birth weight of 889 g and lacked any major congenital abnormalities. The researchers took standardized measurements of the infants’ weight, length and head circumference at birth and weekly thereafter and calculated standard deviation scores (SDS) for these measurements.
Serum samples were collected from umbilical cord blood at birth and from neonatal blood at 72 hours of age, at 7 days after birth and weekly until the infant reached a gestational age of 35 weeks. Subsequent samples were taken at postmenstrual age 40 weeks. Blood was assayed for adiponectin levels using ELISA.
Breast milk given to the infants was analyzed at day 7 and then weekly for protein (g/100 mL) and energy (kcal/100 mL) content until postmenstrual age of at least 35 weeks.
Mean adiponectin increased from 6.8 µg/mL at 72 hours to 34.7 µg/mL at 3 weeks (P < .001). Gestational age at birth (P = .001) and body weight (P < .001) were positively associated with adiponectin concentrations in cord blood. Weight, length and head circumference were all associated with mean adiponectin during days 3 to 21. A correlation was also found between energy consumption and mean adiponecin at days 3 to 21.
“In conclusion, this study showed a profound postnatal increase of the adipocytokine adiponectin during the first weeks of life after very preterm birth,” the researchers wrote. “Furthermore, higher adiponectin concentrations were associated with improved growth at [postmenstrual age] 35 weeks. Because early growth has been linked to later metabolic derangement and adiponectin is a metabolically active hormone, we stress the importance of short- and long-term studies of early changes in adiponectin after very preterm birth in relation to defined metabolic events.” – by Jennifer Byrne
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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