Oral 63rd Endocrine Society of Australia Annual Scientific Meeting 2020

Metabolic syndrome in pregnancy and its association with child telomere length (#25)

Dale McAninch 1 , Tina Bianco-Miotto 1 2 , Kathy Gatford 3 , Shalem Leemaqz 3 4 , Prabha Andraweera 1 , Amy Garrett 3 , Michelle Plummer 3 , Gus Dekker 1 5 , Claire Roberts 3 4 , Lisa Smithers 1 6 , Jessica A Grieger 3
  1. Robinson Research Institute, School of Medicine, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia
  2. Waite Research Institute, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia
  3. Adelaide Medical School, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia
  4. Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia
  5. Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Lyell McEwin Hospital, Elizabeth, Adelaide, SA, Australia
  6. School of Public Health, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia

Aims: To determine whether maternal metabolic syndrome (MetS) in pregnancy associates with child telomere length or child anthropometry (weight, BMI) and blood pressure, measured at 10 y of age. Methods: The SCOPE study was a multi-centre, international prospective cohort of nulliparous pregnant women recruited from Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and the UK (n=5628). The current analysis is a 10 year follow-up of SCOPE pregnant women and her children, from the Australian cohort. Clinical data collected at 14-16 weeks’ gestation during the SCOPE study were used to diagnose MetS using International Diabetes Federation criteria. Telomere length, a biomarker of aging, was assessed by qPCR from child saliva collected at 10 y of age. Results: In women who completed follow up (n=255), 20% had MetS in pregnancy. After adjusting for a range of confounders, children of mothers who had MetS in pregnancy had 14% shorter telomeres than children of mothers without MetS (mean difference; 95% CI: -0.36; -0.74, 0.01). Conclusion: Children of mothers who had MetS in pregnancy have shorter telomeres, a biomarker of accelerated aging. Further studies in larger cohorts of children are warranted, as well as investigating whether telomere length measured in cord blood also associates with telomere length in childhood.