Association between birth weight and the risk of chronic kidney disease in men and women: Findings from a large prospective cohort study

Lingyan Dai; Juncheng Zhuang; Li Fan; Xia Zou; Kei Hang Katie Chan; Xueqing Yu; Jie Li

doi:10.1002/med4.8

Medicine Advances 2023, 1(1): 44-52 https://doi.org/10.1002/med4.8

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Open Access | Issue | Published: 21 March 2023

Association between birth weight and the risk of chronic kidney disease in men and women: Findings from a large prospective cohort study

Show Author's Information Hide Author's Information Lingyan Dai^¹, Juncheng Zhuang^{¹^,²}, Li Fan^³, Xia Zou^¹, Kei Hang Katie Chan^⁴, Xueqing Yu^{¹^,³}

(

), Jie Li^{¹^,³^,⁵^,⁶^,⁷}

(

)

Global Health Research Center, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China

Faculty of Medicine, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau, China

Department of Nephrology, Guangdong-Hong Kong Joint Laboratory on Immunological and Genetic Kidney Diseases, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, China

Departments of Biomedical Sciences and Electrical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

School of Public Health, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China

School of Medicine, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China

Department of Epidemiology and Center for Global Cardiometabolic Health, School of Public Health, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island USA

Keywords:

cohort study, birth weight, chronic kidney dieases

Cite this article:

Dai L, Zhuang J, Fan L, et al. Association between birth weight and the risk of chronic kidney disease in men and women: Findings from a large prospective cohort study. Medicine Advances, 2023, 1(1): 44-52. https://doi.org/10.1002/med4.8

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Abstract Full text About this article

Abstract

Background

The sex-specific associations between birth weight and the risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD) later in life remain controversial. This study aimed to examine the shape of the relationship between birth weight and the risk of CKD in men and women.

Methods

A total of 277,252 participants free of CKD at baseline from the United Kingdom Biobank (UKB) prospective cohort were included in the analysis. Cox proportional hazard regression model was used to estimate the association between birth weight and the risk of incident CKD with adjustment for potential confounders.

Results

During a median follow-up of 11.9 years, we identified 13,030 (4.7%) CKD cases. Compared with normal birth weight (2.5–4.0 kg), low birth weight (LBW, <2.5 kg) was associated with an 11% higher risk of CKD in men (adjusted hazard ratio [HR]: 1.11 [95% CI 1.01–1.21]) and a 27% higher risk of CKD in women (HR: 1.27 [1.19–1.36]) (p for interaction = 0.02). High birth weight (HBW, >4.0 kg) was associated with an 11% lower risk of CKD (HR: 0.89 [0.83–0.95]) in men but not in women (HR: 0.96 [0.89–1.04]) (p for interaction = 0.13). Furthermore, the LBW-CKD association was stronger in obese (HR: 1.28 [1.18–1.39]) than in nonobese participants (HR: 1.16 [1.09–1.24], p for interaction = 0.03).

Conclusions

We found an L-shaped relationship between birth weight and the risk of CKD in women but a linear shape in men. The LBW-CKD association was mitigated to some extent by maintaining healthy body weight in adulthood. Our findings support the notion that the CKD risk should be managed from a lifecycle perspective.

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About this article

Association between birth weight and the risk of chronic kidney disease in men and women: Findings from a large prospective cohort study

Show Author's information Hide Author's Information Lingyan Dai^¹, Juncheng Zhuang^{¹^,²}, Li Fan^³, Xia Zou^¹, Kei Hang Katie Chan^⁴, Xueqing Yu^{¹^,³}

(

), Jie Li^{¹^,³^,⁵^,⁶^,⁷}

(

)

Global Health Research Center, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China

Faculty of Medicine, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau, China

Departments of Biomedical Sciences and Electrical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

School of Public Health, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China

School of Medicine, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China

Department of Epidemiology and Center for Global Cardiometabolic Health, School of Public Health, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island USA

Abstract

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Keywords: cohort study, birth weight, chronic kidney dieases

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Publication history

Received: 16 February 2023

Accepted: 25 February 2023

Published: 21 March 2023

Issue date: March 2023

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Acknowledgements

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors would like to express their sincere gratitude to all the participants of UK Biobank and all the research assistants involved in building the UK Biobank study. JL was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81673156, 82073528, and 81302417). XY was supported by Guangdong‐Hong Kong Joint Laboratory on Immunological and Genetic Kidney Diseases (2019B121205005). The funders had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

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