Study links baby illness to adulthood

BABIES prone to infections, including the common cold, could be more likely to develop cardiovascular disease as an adult, a study has found.

Melbourne researchers have found a potential pathway linking the number of infections in the first 12 months of life to heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes risk in adulthood.

The study, led by the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and published in eLife, raises important questions about the impact our first months of life could have on our health decades later.

The study tracked 555 babies from the Barwon Infant Study over 12 months.

It found infection-prone infants had elevated inflammation markers and changes in cholesterol, lipids and related blood molecules similar to those found in adults at highrisk of heart disease, obesity, stroke and type II diabetes.

Murdoch Children’s Professor David Burgner said the results were “surprising but in keeping with what we have seen in older children”.

“These are common infections, respiratory infections, colds, gastro … that are largely unavoidable in childhood,” he said.