BACKGROUND Birth weight and weight gain in infancy and early childhood are commonly studied as risk factors for later cardiometabolic diseases. In this study, we explore methods for quantifying weight gain during different age periods and for comparing the magnitude of the associations with later blood pressure. METHODS Based on data from a birth cohort study nested within a large cluster-randomized trial with repeated measures of weight from birth to 16 years of age, we compared the results of four analytic approaches to assess sensitive periods of growth in relation to blood pressure at age 16 years. RESULTS Approaches based on z-scores of weight or weight gain velocity (both standardized for age and sex) or on regression-based conditional weight standardized residuals yielded more coherent results than an approach based on absolute weight gain velocity. Weight gain standardized by sex and age was positively associated with blood pressure at 16 years at all postnatal age periods, but the magnitude of association was larger during adolescence (11.5-16 years) than during earlier intervals (0-3 months, 3-12 months, 1-6.5 years or 6.5-11.5 years). CONCLUSIONS Standardization of weight and weight gain by age and sex, or regression-based standardized residuals based on conditional weight, reflects relative gain and thus accounts for the rapid weight gains normally observed in early infancy and puberty. Adolescence appears to be a more sensitive period for relative weight gain effects on later blood pressure than earlier periods, even those of similar duration.

中文翻译：

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胎儿和儿童生长的“敏感”时期分析。

背景技术出生体重和婴儿期和幼儿期的体重增加通常被认为是后来的心脏代谢疾病的危险因素。在这项研究中，我们探索了量化不同年龄段体重增加的方法，并比较了与以后的血压之间的关联程度。方法基于一项出生队列研究的数据，该研究嵌套在一项大型聚类随机试验中，该试验对从出生到16岁的体重进行了重复测量，我们比较了四种分析方法的结果，以评估与血压相关的敏感增长时期。年龄16岁。结果与基于绝对体重增加速度的方法相比，基于体重或体重增加速度的z评分（针对年龄和性别进行标准化）或基于回归的条件性体重标准化残差的方法产生的结果更加一致。在所有出生后的年龄段，按性别和年龄标准化的体重增加与16岁时的血压呈正相关，但与青春期间隔（0-3个月，3-12岁）相比，青春期（11.5-16岁）的关联程度更大月，1-6.5年或6.5-11.5年）。结论按年龄和性别划分的体重和体重增加的标准化，或基于条件体重的基于回归的标准化残差，反映了相对增加，因此可以解释婴儿早期和青春期通常观察到的体重快速增加。