Aim: To describe cardiometabolic health profiles at age 5-6 years, their correlation with age at adiposity rebound (AR) and associations with maternal hyperglycaemia at 24-28 weeks' gestation (gestational diabetes, fasting (FPG), 1-hour postload plasma glucose), in mothers without pre-existing diabetes.
Methods: BMI, %fat mass, blood pressure (BP), FPG, HOMA-IR and lipids were assessed in children from the EDEN study, a French bicentric birth cohort. Sex-specific cardiometabolic health profiles were derived using principal component analysis and examined against age at AR with Pearson's correlation. Associations with maternal hyperglycaemia were studied using multiple linear regressions adjusted for parental factors.
Results: Among 674 children, four profiles were identified per sex: 'higher adiposity, BP, insulin resistance (IR)'; 'higher BP and lower adiposity'; 'higher IR and lower adiposity'; 'higher triglycerides and LDL-c and lower HDL-c'. The profile of 'higher adiposity, BP, IR' was correlated with earlier age at AR in both sexes. Higher maternal FPG was positively associated with the profile of 'higher adiposity, BP, IR' in boys and 'higher triglycerides and LDL-c and lower HDL-c' in girls.
Conclusion: 'Higher adiposity, BP, IR' profile at age 5-6 years was associated with earlier age of adiposity rebound. Marginal associations were observed with maternal hyperglycaemia in pregnancy.
Keywords: adiposity rebound; cardiometabolic health; children; gestational diabetes mellitus; gestational glycaemia.
© 2025 The Author(s). Acta Paediatrica published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Foundation Acta Paediatrica.