DETERMINANTS OF GROWTH AND BODY COMPOSITION IN SINGAPOREAN CHILDREN

Abstract

There is currently a scarcity of data on early-life outcomes in Asian populations. Previous research suggests that adverse early-life size, adiposity and growth patterns may influence pathways determining subsequent cardiometabolic disorders in adulthood, which thus merits more detailed investigations into the determinants of early infant size, adiposity and growth. Using data from a comprehensively phenotyped parent-offspring birth cohort recruited in Singapore, we investigated factors which can predict size, body composition and patterns of growth and adiposity in the first three-years of life in a multi-ethnic Asian population. This dissertation has established new norms for infant size and adiposity, and illustrated how exposure to an adverse in-utero and postnatal environment, and having certain predisposing genetic risk factors would influence adverse size, adiposity and growth patterns during infancy and early childhood, thus unravelling new information on developmental risk factors influencing adverse early-life size and growth patterns in a multi-ethnic Asian population.