Effect of Gestational Weight Gain and Prepregnancy Body Mass Index in Adolescent Mothers on Weight and Body Mass Index of Adolescent Offspring

Abstract

Purpose To examine the association of the gestational weight gain and prepregnancy BMI of low income adolescent mothers with the risk of their children being overweight and/or obese in late adolescence. Methods Study subjects were low-income, primiparous adolescents (n = 360) who self-identified as black and participated in the New Mothers Study in Memphis, TN and their children. Gestational weight gain was examined as a continuous variable and also categorized into over-gain, recommended gain, and under-gain following the 2009 Institute of Medicine guidelines. The effects of maternal prepregnancy BMI percentiles and calculated BMI were also considered. Multivariable logistic and linear regression models were used. The main outcome measures were offspring overweight, obesity, and body mass index. Results Thirty-nine percent of offspring were overweight or obese. Higher maternal gestational weight gain increased the risk for offspring overweight and obesity. There was an interaction between gestational weight gain and prepregnancy BMI: offspring of mothers with a BMI percentile < 76 were at greater risk of obesity with higher maternal weight gain. If mothers with a BMI percentile between the 29th and 83rd percentiles over-gained, offspring were at greater risk for overweight. Using calculated BMIs, if a mother’s BMI was < 26 kg/m2 offspring risk for obesity was greater with higher gestational weight gain. Conclusions High gestational weight gain had a larger effect on offspring overweight and obesity if maternal prepregnancy BMI percentile was < 76.

Disordered Eating Behaviors Are Associated with Gestational Weight Gain in Adolescents

“…In the present study, excessive and insufficient GWG were the most common categories, appearing in four and three out of ten adolescents, respectively, similar to other studies performed with young and low-income women [34][35][36][37]. In our sample of pregnant adolescents from Mexico City, less than 30% had adequate GWG, which also coincides with several reports from the United States and Canada [3,38,39].…”

How to classify BMI among pregnant adolescents? A prospective cohort

“…In addition, the low response of pregnant teens to GWG recommendations can be understood as the high prevalence of inadequate GWG (40 %) found among adolescents. Similar results have been described not only among pregnant adolescents (18) but also adult women (19) .…”

High Maternal Body Mass Index Is Associated with an Early-Onset of Overweight/Obesity in Pre-School-Aged Children in Malawi. A Multilevel Analysis of the 2015-16 Malawi Demographic and Health Survey

“…Excess weight gain in during the pregnancy has been reported to be associated with a number of poor health and pregnancy outcomes [36][37][38]. Prior research stressed that excess gestational weight gain is linked to fetal macrosomia [39,40] and macrosomia has been implicated in an elevated risk of overweight or obesity in childhood as well as during adulthood [41].…”