Insulin-like growth factor and its dynamics in babies born from mothers with obesity

Insulin-like growth factor is one of the regulators of fetal growth in the intrauterine period, and is responsible for its further development. Purpose . To study postnatal growth in relation to insulin-like growth factor-1 and somatotropic hormonelevels in infants born to obese mothers. Materials and methods . The prospective study included 18 children (16 full-term and 2 premature infants of gestational age 31-35 weeks) born to mothers who were obese before pregnancy (group 1) and 18 children (17 full-term and 1 premature baby of gestational age 34 weeks) from mothers with normal body mass index before pregnancy. Weight and height were estimated at birth, at 3 and 6 months. Serum levels of insulin-like growth factor-1 and somatotropic hormonewere determined by ELISA at birth in umbilical cord blood at 3, 6 and 12 months. Results . During the neonatal period, at 3 and 6 months, height and weight did not have significant differences in both groups. At the age of 1 year in group 1 weight and height were higher than in group 2 (p < 0.05). Indicators of insulin-like growth factor-1 (128.71 ± 74.29 and 21.33 ± 15.21 ) and somatotropic hormone (4.3 ± 1.5 and 1.84 ± 0.36) was also higher in children of group 1 aged 1 year. Conclusion . Changes in the somatotropic hormone – insulin-like growth factor-1 axis in children born to obese mothers may form the basis of metabolic syndrome in the future.