Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Aug;4(4):280-4.
doi: 10.1017/S2040174413000135.

Sex-specific associations of maternal prenatal testosterone levels with birth weight and weight gain in infancy

K M Voegtline  1 , K A Costigan  2 , K T Kivlighan  1 , J L Henderson  2 , J A DiPietro  1
Affiliations

Sex-specific associations of maternal prenatal testosterone levels with birth weight and weight gain in infancy

K M Voegtline et al. J Dev Orig Health Dis. 2013 Aug.

Abstract

Associations between maternal salivary testosterone at 36 weeks' gestation with birth weight and infant weight gain through 6 months of age were examined in a group of 49 healthy, pregnant women and their offspring. The diurnal decline of maternal testosterone was conserved in late pregnancy, and levels showed significant day-to-day stability. Elevated maternal morning testosterone level was associated with lower birth weight Z-scores adjusted for gestational age and sex, and greater infant weight gain between birth and 6 months. Although maternal testosterone levels did not differ by fetal sex, relations were sex-specific such that maternal testosterone had a significant impact on weight for male infants; among female infants associations were nonsignificant. Results highlight the opposing influence of maternal androgens during pregnancy on decreased growth in utero and accelerated postnatal weight gain.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest

None.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
(a, b) Unadjusted trajectories of infant weight gain between birth and 6 months of age by maternal testosterone levels at 36 weeks gestation and infant sex relative to World Health Organization standard growth curve percentiles. Male infants exposed to high levels of maternal testosterone in late pregnancy show accelerated postnatal weight gain (b).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Barker D. In utero programming of chronic disease. Clin Sci. 1998;2:115–128. - PubMed
    1. Plagemann A. Perinatal programming and functional teratogenesis: impact on body weight regulation and obesity. Physiol Behav. 2005;86:661–668. - PubMed
    1. Manikkam M, Crespi E, Doop D, et al. Fetal programming: prenatal testosterone excess leads to fetal growth retardation and postnatal catch-up growth in sheep. Endocrinology. 2004;145:790–798. - PubMed
    1. Steckler T, Wang J, Bartol F, Roy S, Padmanabhan V. Fetal programming: prenatal testosterone treatment causes intrauterine growth retardation, reduces ovarian reserve and increases ovarian follicular recruitment. Endocrinology. 2005;146:3185–3193. - PubMed
    1. Padmanabhan V, Viega-Lopez A, Abbott D, Recabarren S, Herkimer C. Developmental programming: impact of prenatal testosterone excess and postnatal weight gain on insulin sensitivity index and transfer of traits to offspring of overweight females. Endocrinology. 2010;151:595–605. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources