Understanding heterogeneity in the effects of birth weight on adult cognition and wages |
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| Institution: | 1. Epidemiology Branch, Division of Intramural Population Health Research, NICHD, Bethesda, MD, USA;2. Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Branch, Division of Intramural Population Health Research, NICHD, Bethesda, MD, USA;3. The Emmes Corporation, Rockville, MD, 20850 USA;1. LC Campbell Cognitive Neurology Unit, Hurvitz Brain Sciences Research Program, Sunnybrook Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada;2. Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada;3. Cardiac Rehabilitation Program, University Health Network Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada;4. Department of Medicine (Neurology), Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre & University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada;1. Department of Surgery, Creighton University Medical Center, Omaha, NE-68131, USA;2. Department of Neurosurgery, Creighton University Medical Center, Omaha 68131, USA;1. College for Health, Community and Policy, University of Texas at San Antonio, USA;2. Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, Canada;3. Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, USA;4. Yale School of Public Health, Yale University, USA;5. Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco, USA |
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| Abstract: | A large economics literature has shown long term impacts of birth weight on adult outcomes, including IQ and earnings that are often robust to sibling or twin fixed effects. We examine potential mechanisms underlying these effects by incorporating findings from the genetics and neuroscience literatures. We use a sample of siblings combined with an “orchids and dandelions hypothesis”, where the IQ of genetic dandelions is not affected by in utero nutrition variation but genetic orchids thrive under advantageous conditions and wilt in poor conditions. Indeed, using variation in three candidate genes related to neuroplasticity (APOE, BDNF, and COMT), we find substantial heterogeneity in the associations between birth weight and adult outcomes, where part of the population (i.e., “dandelions”) is not affected by birth weight variation. Our results help uncover why birth weight affects adult outcomes. |
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| Keywords: | Birth weight Cognitive performance Gene–environment interaction Neuroplasticity |
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