Low birth weight and intrauterine growth restriction and their relationship with handgrip strength in adolescents.

OBJECTIVE

To analyze the association between low birth weight (LBW) and intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) with handgrip strength (HGS) in adolescents.

METHODS

Birth cohort study from São Luís, Maranhão, Brazil, conducted between 1997 and 1998. The Jamar Plus+ dynamometer was used to measure HGS during the second follow-up. Birth weight was assessed from information from the participants' hospital records. LBW was defined as a birth weight <2500 g, while IUGR was defined as a Kramer's index <0.85. The associations of LBW and IUGR with HGS were estimated using linear regression models. The directed acyclic graph (DAG) was used to identify the variables for adjustment.

RESULTS

We evaluated 544 individuals who participated in the baseline and second follow-up, and 279 who participated in the first and second follow-ups. In crude and adjusted analyses, LBW was not associated with HGS. However, in the crude analysis, male adolescents with IUGR had lower HGS (β: -4.17; 95%CI -7.67; -0.66) compared with those without IUGR. In the adjusted analysis, the association was maintained, with male adolescents with IUGR showing a reduction of 4.36 kgf (β -4.36; 95%CI -7.88; -0.85) in HGS compared with those without IUGR. There was no association between IUGR and HGS in females.

CONCLUSIONS

LBW was not associated with HGS. However, male adolescents with IUGR had lower HGS.