Sex Differences in the Association of Sibship Size and Position in Sibship with Lipid Profile during Adolescence: A Cross-Sectional Study

Ziyab, Ali H.; Almari, Mohammad; Mohammad, Anwar; Al-Taiar, Abdullah; Karmaus, Wilfried

doi:https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/8727922

International Journal of Endocrinology

On this page

Abstract Introduction Methods Results Discussion Conclusions Data Availability Ethical Approval Consent Conflicts of Interest Authors’ Contributions Acknowledgments Supplementary Materials References Copyright Related Articles

Research Article | Open Access

Volume 2022 | Article ID 8727922 | https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/8727922

Sex Differences in the Association of Sibship Size and Position in Sibship with Lipid Profile during Adolescence: A Cross-Sectional Study

Ali H. Ziyab,¹Mohammad Almari,²Anwar Mohammad,³Abdullah Al-Taiar,⁴and Wilfried Karmaus⁵

Academic Editor: Reinhard Depping

Received05 Aug 2022

Accepted17 Sept 2022

Published27 Sept 2022

Abstract

Background. Epidemiologic studies have reported associations of sibship size and position of the child in the sibship with multiple health outcomes, including adiposity and diabetes. However, little is known about sibling effects on lipids. Hence, this study sought to evaluate associations of the number of total, older, and younger siblings with lipid profile among adolescents. Methods. In a cross-sectional study among high school students aged 14 to 19 years, lipid levels were measured in capillary blood. Parents reported the number of siblings (total, older, and younger). Geometric means of lipids were calculated, and linear regression was used to estimate the ratio of geometric means (RoGM) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Analyses were sex stratified. Results. Of the total study sample (n = 1,584), 758 (47.9%) were boys and 826 (52.1%) were girls, with median age of 16.0 years. Total cholesterol (TC) was lower by 8% (adjusted-RoGM = 0.92, 95% CI: 0.88–0.96) among boys with ≥3 older siblings compared to those with no older siblings. Similarly, boys with ≥3 younger sibling compared to those with no younger siblings had reduced TC by 7% (adjusted-RoGM = 0.93, 0.87–0.99). Moreover, an increased number of total siblings (≥4 vs. 0/1: adjusted-RoGM = 0.80, 0.67–97) and older siblings (≥3 vs. 0: adjusted-RoGM = 0.90, 0.82–0.98) were associated with reduced low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) among boys. Similarly, lower levels of triglycerides (TG) were seen among boys with ≥3 older siblings compared to those with no older siblings (adjusted-RoGM = 0.87, 0.78–0.96). A higher number of younger siblings was associated with increased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) among boys (≥3 vs. 0: adjusted-RoGM = 1.08, 1.01–1.17). Sibship characteristics were not associated with lipids among girls. Conclusions. Increased number of total, older, and younger siblings were associated with favorable lipid profiles among adolescent boys, but not girls. Mechanisms underlying these associations need further investigations.

References

W. Karmaus and C. C. Johnson, “Invited commentary: sibship effects and a call for a comparative disease approach,” American Journal of Epidemiology, vol. 162, no. 2, pp. 133–138, 2005.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
J. Golding and T. Peters, “Eczema and hay fever,” From Birth to Five: A Study of the Health and Behaviour of Britain’s 5-Year-Olds, Pergamon Press, Oxford, New York, pp. 171–186, 1st edition, 1986.
View at: Google Scholar
D. P. Strachan, “Hay fever, hygiene, and household size,” BMJ, vol. 299, no. 6710, pp. 1259-1260, 1989.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
W. Karmaus and C. Botezan, “Does a higher number of siblings protect against the development of allergy and asthma? A review,” Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, vol. 56, no. 3, pp. 209–217, 2002.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
D. P. Strachan, N. Ait-Khaled, S. Foliaki et al., “Siblings, asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis and eczema: a worldwide perspective from the international study of asthma and allergies in childhood,” Clinical & Experimental Allergy, vol. 45, no. 1, pp. 126–136, 2015.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
T. Westergaard, K. Rostgaard, J. Wohlfahrt, P. K. Andersen, P. Aaby, and M. Melbye, “Sibship characteristics and risk of allergic rhinitis and asthma,” American Journal of Epidemiology, vol. 162, no. 2, pp. 125–132, 2005.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
W. Karmaus, H. Arshad, and J. Mattes, “Does the sibling effect have its origin in utero? Investigating birth order, cord blood immunoglobulin E concentration, and allergic sensitization at age 4 years,” American Journal of Epidemiology, vol. 154, no. 10, pp. 909–915, 2001.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
A. H. Ziyab and Y. M. Ali, “Rhinoconjunctivitis among adolescents in Kuwait and associated risk factors: a cross-sectional study,” BioMed Research International, vol. 2019, pp. 1–9, 2019.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
D. W. Lawson and R. Mace, “Sibling configuration and childhood growth in contemporary British families,” International Journal of Epidemiology, vol. 37, no. 6, pp. 1408–1421, 2008.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
F. de Oliveira Meller, M. C. F. Assunção, A. A. Schafer et al., “The influence of birth order and number of siblings on adolescent body composition: evidence from a Brazilian birth cohort study,” British Journal of Nutrition, vol. 114, no. 1, pp. 118–125, 2015.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
F. O. Meller, C. Loret de Mola, M. C. F. Assuncao, A. A. Schafer, D. L. Dahly, and F. C. Barros, “Birth order and number of siblings and their association with overweight and obesity: a systematic review and meta-analysis,” Nutrition Reviews, vol. 76, no. 2, pp. 117–124, 2018.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
C. R. Cardwell, L. C. Stene, G. Joner et al., “Birth order and childhood type 1 diabetes risk: a pooled analysis of 31 observational studies,” International Journal of Epidemiology, vol. 40, no. 2, pp. 363–374, 2011.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
J. C. K. Wells, P. C. Hallal, F. F. Reichert, S. C. Dumith, A. M. Menezes, and C. G. Victora, “Associations of birth order with early growth and adolescent height, body composition, and blood pressure: prospective birth cohort from Brazil,” American Journal of Epidemiology, vol. 174, no. 9, pp. 1028–1035, 2011.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
A. H. Ziyab, W. Karmaus, K. A. AlShatti, M. Al-Kandari, S. H. Hussein, and Y. M. Ali, “Psoriasis among adolescents in Kuwait and the role of siblings, breastfeeding, and household cat and secondhand smoke exposure: a cross-sectional study,” Dermatology and Therapy (Heidelb), vol. 10, no. 5, pp. 1137–1153, 2020.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
A. L. Fowden, D. A. Giussani, and A. J. Forhead, “Endocrine and metabolic programming during intrauterine development,” Early Human Development, vol. 81, no. 9, pp. 723–734, 2005.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
V. Padmanabhan, R. C. Cardoso, and M. Puttabyatappa, “Developmental programming, a pathway to disease,” Endocrinology, vol. 157, no. 4, pp. 1328–1340, 2016.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
A. Ayyavoo, T. Savage, J. G. B. Derraik, P. L. Hofman, and W. S. Cutfield, “First-born children have reduced insulin sensitivity and higher daytime blood pressure compared to later-born children,” The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, vol. 98, no. 3, pp. 1248–1253, 2013.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
T. Savage, J. G. B. Derraik, H. L. Miles, F. Mouat, W. S. Cutfield, and P. L. Hofman, “Birth order progressively affects childhood height,” Clinical Endocrinology (Oxford), vol. 79, no. 3, pp. 379–385, 2013.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
M. Siervo, B. L. Horta, B. C. M. Stephan, C. G. Victora, and J. C. K. Wells, “First-borns carry a higher metabolic risk in early adulthood: evidence from a prospective cohort study,” PLoS One, vol. 5, no. 11, Article ID e13907, 2010.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
L. Cai, B. Ma, L. Lin et al., “The differences of lipid profiles between only children and children with siblings: a national survey in China,” Scientific Reports, vol. 9, no. 1, p. 1441, 2019.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
N. D. Wong, “Epidemiological studies of CHD and the evolution of preventive cardiology,” Nature Reviews Cardiology, vol. 11, no. 5, pp. 276–289, 2014.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
J. Juhola, C. G. Magnussen, J. S. Viikari et al., “Tracking of serum lipid levels, blood pressure, and body mass index from childhood to adulthood: the cardiovascular risk in young finns study,” The Journal of Pediatrics, vol. 159, no. 4, pp. 584–590, 2011.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
M. Juonala, J. S. Viikari, T. Ronnemaa et al., “Associations of dyslipidemias from childhood to adulthood with carotid intima-media thickness, elasticity, and brachial flow-mediated dilatation in adulthood: the cardiovascular risk in young finns study,” Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, vol. 28, no. 5, pp. 1012–1017, 2008.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
B. T. Palmisano, L. Zhu, R. H. Eckel, and J. M. Stafford, “Sex differences in lipid and lipoprotein metabolism,” Molecular Metabolism, vol. 15, pp. 45–55, 2018.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
V. Regitz-Zagrosek, E. Lehmkuhl, and M. O. Weickert, “Gender differences in the metabolic syndrome and their role for cardiovascular disease,” Clinical Research in Cardiology, vol. 95, no. 3, pp. 136–147, 2006.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
M. Almari, S. Alsaedi, A. Mohammad, and A. H. Ziyab, “Associations of adiposity and parental diabetes with prediabetes among adolescents in Kuwait: a cross-sectional study,” Pediatric Diabetes, vol. 19, no. 8, pp. 1362–1369, 2018.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
W. T. Friedewald, R. I. Levy, and D. S. Fredrickson, “Estimation of the concentration of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in plasma, without use of the preparative ultracentrifuge,” Clinical Chemistry, vol. 18, no. 6, pp. 499–502, 1972.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
Roche Diagnostics International Ltd, “Study report from a multicenter evaluation of the new cobas b 101 system for the measurement of HbA1c and lipid panel,” 2013, https://www.cobas.roche.it/content/dam/cobas_com/pdf/product/cobas-b-101-system/cobas%20b%20101%20performance%20evaluation%20study%20report_8pg.pdf.
View at: Google Scholar
R. R. Little, C. Rohlfing, and D. B. Sacks, “The national glycohemoglobin standardization program: over 20 years of improving hemoglobin A1c measurement,” Clinical Chemistry, vol. 65, no. 7, pp. 839–848, 2019.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
“Expert panel on detection evaluation treatment of high blood cholesterol in adults. Executive summary of the third report of the national cholesterol education Program (NCEP) expert panel on detection, evaluation, and treatment of high blood cholesterol in adults (adult treatment panel III),” JAMA, vol. 285, pp. 2486–2497, 2001.
View at: Google Scholar
American Diabetes Association, “2. Classification and diagnosis of diabetes: standards of medical care in diabetes-2019,” Diabetes Care, vol. 42, no. 1, pp. S13–S28, 2019.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
M. de Onis, A. W. Onyango, E. Borghi, A. Siyam, C. Nishida, and J. Siekmann, “Development of a WHO growth reference for school-aged children and adolescents,” Bull World Health Organ, vol. 85, no. 09, pp. 660–667, 2007.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
M. Almari, A. Mohammad, J. Abubaker, and A. H. Ziyab, “Obesity and prediabetes are jointly associated with lipid abnormalities among adolescents: a cross-sectional study,” Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity: Targets and Therapy, vol. 14, pp. 345–353, 2021.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
S. Greenland, “Tests for interaction in epidemiologic studies: a review and a study of power,” Statistics in Medicine, vol. 2, pp. 243–251, 1983.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
S. Greenland, “Interactions in epidemiology: relevance, identification, and estimation,” Epidemiology, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 14–17, 2009.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
J. M. Bland and D. G. Altman, “Statistics notes: the use of transformation when comparing two means,” BMJ, vol. 312, no. 7039, p. 1153, 1996.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
B. F. Palmer and D. J. Clegg, “The sexual dimorphism of obesity,” Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology, vol. 402, pp. 113–119, 2015.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
J. L. Faulkner and E. J. Belin de Chantemele, “Sex hormones, aging and cardiometabolic syndrome,” Biology of Sex Differences, vol. 10, no. 1, p. 30, 2019.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
A. Gabory, T. J. Roseboom, T. Moore, L. G. Moore, and C. Junien, “Placental contribution to the origins of sexual dimorphism in health and diseases: sex chromosomes and epigenetics,” Biology of Sex Differences, vol. 4, no. 1, p. 5, 2013.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
J. S. Gilbert and M. J. Nijland, “Sex differences in the developmental origins of hypertension and cardiorenal disease,” American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, vol. 295, no. 6, pp. R1941–R1952, 2008.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
P. C. Hallal, J. C. K. Wells, F. F. Reichert, L. Anselmi, and C. G. Victora, “Early determinants of physical activity in adolescence: prospective birth cohort study,” BMJ, vol. 332, no. 7548, pp. 1002–1007, 2006.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
S. Wells, N. Rafter, T. Kenealy et al., “The impact of a point-of-care testing device on CVD risk assessment completion in New Zealand primary-care practice: a cluster randomised controlled trial and qualitative investigation,” PLoS One, vol. 12, no. 4, Article ID e0174504, 2017.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
B. G. Nordestgaard, A. Langsted, S. Mora et al., “Fasting is not routinely required for determination of a lipid profile: clinical and laboratory implications including flagging at desirable concentration cut-points-a joint consensus statement from the European atherosclerosis society and european federation of clinical chemistry and laboratory medicine,” European Heart Journal, vol. 37, no. 25, pp. 1944–1958, 2016.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
M. J. Steiner, A. C. Skinner, and E. M. Perrin, “Fasting might not be necessary before lipid screening: a nationally representative cross-sectional study,” Pediatrics, vol. 128, no. 3, pp. 463–470, 2011.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
M. A. Eissa, N. L. Mihalopoulos, R. Holubkov, S. Dai, and D. R. Labarthe, “Changes in fasting lipids during puberty,” The Journal of Pediatrics, vol. 170, pp. 199–205, 2016.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
O. Friedland, D. Nemet, N. Gorodnitsky, B. Wolach, and A. Eliakim, “Obesity and lipid profiles in children and adolescents,” Journal of Pediatric Endocrinology & Metabolism: JPEM, vol. 15, no. 7, pp. 1011–1016, 2002.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar
K. J. Rothman, “Six persistent research misconceptions,” Journal of General Internal Medicine, vol. 29, no. 7, pp. 1060–1064, 2014.
View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar

Copyright

Copyright © 2022 Ali H. Ziyab et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

PDF Download Citation

Download other formats

Order printed copies

Views

239

Downloads

402

Citations