Infants With Low Birth Weight Have Larger Adipocytes During Early Childhood

Background Infants with low birth weight are at increased risk of developing insulin resistance later in life. Objectives To evaluate differences in adipocyte size during early childhood between infants with low birth weight and infants born appropriate for gestational age at full‐term. Methods This cross‐sectional study included 92 children (77 infants born appropriate for gestational age at full‐term and 15 with low birth weight), aged 0.8–5.2 years, scheduled for surgery. Adipose tissue samples were obtained intraoperatively, fixed in osmic acid, and assessed for mean adipocyte diameter after adipocyte separation. Results Despite a similar body mass index, the low‐birth‐weight group had larger mean adipocyte diameters during early childhood than the term appropriate‐for‐gestational‐age group (87.0 μm vs. 74.7 μm). Multiple regression analysis revealed that low birth weight and higher body mass index at surgery were significant determinants of larger mean adipocyte diameter ( p < 0.001). Mean adipocyte diameter was not associated with haematological parameters, including insulin, adiponectin, and leptin levels. Conclusion During early childhood, infants with low birth weight had larger adipocytes than infants born appropriate for gestational age at term. Further studies are required to determine whether this observation is associated with insulin resistance development later in life.