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Growing evidence indicates that fetal and early life events lay the foundation for metabolic health or disease later in life. During the last decade, a link has been established between preterm birth and development of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes in childhood and adulthood. However, whether alterations in insulin homeostasis are detectable at birth is not known.
Researchers prospectively evaluated plasma insulin levels from birth and to age 6.5 years in 1358 singleton children without major birth defects from an urban minority population (the Boston Birth Cohort). Each child had at least two insulin levels obtained (a cord blood sample at birth and a subsequent sample between ages 6 months and 6.5 years). About 30% of the populati…