Gestational age at birth and body size from infancy through adolescence: An individual participant data meta-analysis on 253,810 singletons in 16 birth cohort studies.
Johan L VintherTim CadmanDemetris AvraamClaus Thorn EkstrømThorkild I A SørensenAhmed ElhakeemAna Cristina SantosAngela Pinot de MoiraBarbara HeudeCarmen IñiguezCostanza PizziElinor SimonsEllis VoermanEva CorpeleijnFaryal ZariouhGilian SantorelliHazel M InskipHenrique BarrosJennie CarsonJennifer R HarrisJohanna L NaderJustiina RonkainenKatrine Strandberg-LarsenLoreto Santa-Marina RodriguezLucinda CalasLuise CederkvistMaja PopovićMarie Aline CharlesMarieke WeltenMartine VrijheidMeghan B AzadPadmaja SubbaraoPaul R BurtonPuishkumar J MandhaneRae-Chi HuangRebecca C WilsonSido HaakmaSílvia Fernández-BarrésStuart TurveySusana SantosSuzanne C ToughSylvain SebertTheo J MoraesTheodosia SalikaVincent W V JaddoeDeborah A LawlorAnne-Marie Nybo AndersenPublished in: PLoS medicine (2023)
This study based on data from infancy through adolescence from 16 cohort studies found that GA may be important for body size in infancy, but the strength of association attenuates consistently with age. By adolescence, preterm individuals have on average a similar mean BMI to peers born at term.