Associations of body composition at birth and accretion from 0-5 years with kidney function and volume at the 10-year follow-up: the Ethiopian iABC birth cohort

Beakal Zinab; Rahma Ali; Bikila S Megersa; Tefera Belachew; Elias Kedir; Tsinuel Girma; Bitiya Admasu; Henrik Friis; Mubarek Abera; Suzanne Filteau; Dorothea Nitsch; Jonathan Ck Wells; Rasmus Wibaek; Daniel Yilma

doi:10.1016/j.ajcnut.2024.12.015

Associations of body composition at birth and accretion from 0-5 years with kidney function and volume at the 10-year follow-up: the Ethiopian iABC birth cohort

Am J Clin Nutr. 2024 Dec 18:S0002-9165(24)01469-2. doi: 10.1016/j.ajcnut.2024.12.015. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Beakal Zinab¹, Rahma Ali², Bikila S Megersa³, Tefera Belachew⁴, Elias Kedir⁵, Tsinuel Girma⁶, Bitiya Admasu⁷, Henrik Friis³, Mubarek Abera⁸, Suzanne Filteau⁹, Dorothea Nitsch⁹, Jonathan Ck Wells¹⁰, Rasmus Wibaek¹¹, Daniel Yilma¹²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Public Health, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia; Department of Nutrition, Exercise, and Sports, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Electronic address: beakalzinab1@gmail.com.
² Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Public Health, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia; Department of Population and Family Health, Faculty of Public Health, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia.
³ Department of Nutrition, Exercise, and Sports, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
⁴ Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Public Health, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia.
⁵ Department of Radiology, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia.
⁶ Department of Pediatrics and Child Health Faculty of Medical Sciences, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia.
⁷ Department of Population and Family Health, Faculty of Public Health, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia.
⁸ Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia.
⁹ Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom.
¹⁰ Childhood Nutrition Research Center, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, London, United Kingdom.
¹¹ Department of Clinical and Translational Research, Steno Diabetes Center, Copenhagen.
¹² Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia.

PMID: 39706296
DOI: 10.1016/j.ajcnut.2024.12.015

Abstract

Background: Fat mass (FM) and fat-free mass (FFM) in early life are associated with later obesity and cardio-metabolic disease. This study aimed to assess the associations of FM and FFM at birth and conditional FM and FFM accretion from 0-5 years with kidney outcomes at the 10-year follow-up.

Method: The Ethiopian Infant Anthropometry and Body Composition (iABC) birth cohort included term infants born in Jimma town, with a birth weight ≥1500 grams, and having no congenital malformations. Air displacement plethysmography was used to measure body composition. Serum cystatin C was determined and kidney dimensions assessed by ultrasound when children were aged ∼10 years. Conditional growth modelling was used to compute FM and FFM accretion between different time points over 0-5 years. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to examine associations of birth FM and FFM and conditional FM and FFM accretion in selected age periods with serum cystatin C and total kidney volume at the 10-year follow-up.

Result: A total of 350 children were followed-up at a mean age of 9.8 9.8 (±1.0) years. A 1 SD higher conditional FFM accretion from 3-6 months was associated with 7.6% (95% CI: 1.9; 13.0) lower serum cystatin C but higher conditional FFM accretion 48-60 months was associated with 5.3% (95% CI: 1.9; 9.0) higher serum cystatin C. A 1 SD higher conditional FM accretion in the periods 6 months-48 months and 48-60 months was associated with β=7.7 (95% CI: 4.8; 10.7) and β=6.4 (95% CI: 1.6; 11.1) cm³ greater kidney volume, respectively. A 1 SD higher birth FFM and FFM accretion in the periods 3-6 months, 6 months-48 months and 48-60 months was associated with β=4.7 (95% CI: 2.1, 7.2), 14.1 (95% CI: 6.3; 22.0), 4.2 (95% CI: 0.9; 7.4) and 7.1 (95% CI: 2.5; 11.7) cm³ greater kidney volume, respectively.

Conclusion: A higher conditional FFM gain in age from 3-6 months resulted in better kidney function at the 10-year follow-up, whilst a higher conditional FFM gain in age from 4-5 years resulted a lower kidney function. Kidney volume at the 10-year follow-up was associated with higher birth FFM and higher conditional FM or FFM growth in most growth periods.

Keywords: Ethiopia; Fat mass; Kidney size; fat-free mass; kidney function.