SynthesisBrain and behavior2021
Mendelian randomization suggests that head circumference, but not birth weight and length, associates with intelligence.
Synthesis in Brain and behavior, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Influence of Prenatal Exercise on Apgar Score and Health-Related Physical Fitness in Childhood: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of pregnancy · 2026Pooled it
- Mendelian randomization suggests that head circumference, but not birth weight and length, associates with intelligence.Brain and behavior · 2021Pooled it
- Multimodal machine learning for modeling infant head circumference, mothers' milk composition, and their shared environment.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Birth size, school performance and family social position: a study of 650,000 children.Pediatric research · 2023Article
- The association between maternal healthy lifestyle factors during pregnancy and the neonatal anthropometric indicators based on a prospective cohort study.Asia Pacific journal of clinical nutrition · 2023Article
- Dynamics of human milk oligosaccharides in early lactation and relation with growth and appetitive traits of Filipino breastfed infants.Scientific reports · 2022Observational
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionBirth parameters have long been reported to have a role in human intelligence. However, the causalities reported in previous observational studies were controversial. Our study aims to provide an unbiased investigation of the causal associations between birth parameters and human intelligence using the Mendelian randomization (MR) approach.
methodsGenetic instrumental variables for MR analyses were extracted from large genome-wide association studies of infant head circumference (N = 10,768), birth length (N = 28,489), and birth weight (N = 321,223). Data for intelligence were obtained from a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies of 269,867 individuals of the European ancestry. Primary MR analysis was performed using the standard inverse-variance weighted method, and sensitivity analyses were performed using the weighted median, MR-Egger, and MR-PRESSO methods.
resultsUsing 10 single nucleotide polymorphisms as instrumental variables, we found that 1 standard deviation increase in infant head circumference was associated with 0.14-fold higher scores in intelligence tests (β = 0.14, 95% confidence interval: 0.09 to 0.18, P
conclusionOur findings suggested infant head circumference, but not birth weight and length were associated with intelligence, which might indicate that brain development rather than general fetal growth was responsible for the development of intelligence.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.