Prevalence of Hypercholesterolaemia, Hyperuricaemia, Elevated Insulin Resistance, and Obesity Among 5-Year-Old very low birth weight and extremely low birth weight Children

Children born with low birth weight are at increased risk of developing cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) later in life. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of selected CVD risk factors in 5-year-old children born with very low birth weight (VLBW) or extremely low birth weight (ELBW). We evaluated serum levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), triglycerides, serum uric acid, insulin resistance (IR) assessed by HOMA-IR, obesity, and abdominal obesity. Association analyses were performed separately for twins and singletons. A total of 102 children were included. Obesity was diagnosed in 1 child (1.0%), hyperuricaemia in 2 (2.0%), and elevated IR in 3 (2.9%). Abnormal LDL, HDL, and triacylglycerol levels were observed in 16 (16.0%), 8 (7.8%), and 13 (12.8%) children, respectively. However, the higher overall prevalence of elevated LDL in the cohort was largely attributable to the high concordance of elevated LDL within twin pairs. Among twins with elevated LDL, both children in the pair were affected in all but one case, which might suggest a predominantly genetic origin or shared lifestyle factors rather than perinatal factors. The limited number of abnormalities in our cohort precluded the investigation of several associations. In singletons, higher growth velocity was associated with lower HDL levels (p = 0.045), and body-mass index positively correlated with HOMA-IR (ρ = 0.52, p = 0.0001). In this cohort of 5-year-old VLBW and ELBW children, obesity, abdominal obesity, hyperuricaemia, and elevated IR were uncommon, whereas dyslipidaemia occurred more frequently. However, the clustering of elevated LDL among twin pairs might be due to genetic or environmental factors rather than to perinatal conditions.