It is more than 15 years since Barker and Hales first reported a relationship between size at birth and adult risk for the development of impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), type 2 diabetes (T2D) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) (1–3). These observations have now been replicated in many populations, and do not appear to be confounded by socioeconomic and environmental factors. However, the data have largely been gathered through the retrospective study of birth records and the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying these associations remain unclear.
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Dunger, D.B., Salgin, B., Ong, K.K. (2008). Early Childhood Contributions to Insulin Resistance. In: Zeitler, P.S., Nadeau, K.J. (eds) Insulin Resistance. Contemporary Endocrinology. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-192-5_5
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