Influence of maternal pre-pregnancy nutritional status on offspring anthropometric measurements and body composition in three Brazilian Birth Cohorts

Abstract

Objective: We aimed at evaluating the association of maternal pre-pregnancy nutritional status with offspring anthropometry and body composition. We also evaluated whether these associations were modified by gender, diet and physical activity and mediated by birthweight. Design: Birth cohort study. Setting: Waist circumference was measured with an inextensible tape, fat and lean mass were measured using Dual-energy X-ray Absorptiometry. Multiple linear regression was used to adjust for possible confounders, and allele score of body mass index. We carried out mediation analysis using G-formula. Participants: In 1982, 1993 and 2004, all maternity hospitals in Pelotas (South Brazil) were visited daily and all livebirths whose families lived in the urban area of the city were evaluated. These subjects have been followed-up at different ages. Results: Offspring of obese mothers had on average higher body mass index, waist circumference, and fat mass index than those of normal weight mothers, and these differences were higher among daughters. The magnitudes of the association were similar in the cohorts, except for height, where the association pattern was not clear. In the 1982 cohort, further adjustment for a body mass index allele score had no material influence on the magnitude of the associations. Mediation analyses showed that birthweight captured part of this association. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that maternal pre-pregnancy nutritional status is positively associated with offspring body mass index and adiposity in offspring. And this association is higher among daughters whose mother were overweight or obese and, birthweight explain part of this association.

The Effect of Maternal Overweight and Obesity Pre-Pregnancy and During Childhood in the Development of Obesity in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Literature Review

“…We categorised child and adolescent age groups based on the CDC stages of child development [ 39 ]. Of the prospective cohort studies, four studies were conducted among pre-school children (aged 3–5) [ 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 ]; two studies were conducted among children of middle childhood age (6–11 years) [ 44 , 45 ]; one study examined both the toddler (2–3 years) and the pre-school age groups (aged 3–6) [ 46 ]; one study was conducted across both the pre-school (aged 3–5) and middle childhood age groups (6–11 years) [ 47 ]; two studies were conducted across the middle childhood (6–11 years) and young teens group (12–14 years) [ 48 , 49 ]; and finally, one study covered toddlers (2–3 years) to young teens collectively (12–14 years) [ 50 ]. The studies range across six countries, two in Brazil, one from China, two from Greece, one from Japan, one from Turkey, and four from the United States.…”

“…Within the individual studies, primary and secondary outcomes were reported, and those that produced statistically significant results were examined. From these, nine studies explored relevant primary outcomes [ 40 , 42 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 49 ] and two explored secondary outcomes [ 43 , 48 ]. The outcomes included childhood obesity a categorical variable, as defined by WHO and CDC, and child body composition measures (i.e., BMI, BMI-for-Age Z-Score, WC, FMI and %BF).…”

“…These have been presented in Table 1 . Five studies explored childhood obesity as a categorical variable [ 41 , 43 , 47 , 49 , 50 ], and six studies explored child anthropometric and body composition measures as continuous variables [ 40 , 42 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 48 ].…”

“…For the exposures, eight studies examined maternal pre-pregnancy overweight or obesity [ 40 , 41 , 42 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 49 ], and three studies examined maternal overweight or obesity during childhood [ 43 , 47 , 48 , 50 ], while one study [ 47 ] examined both exposures. The effect measures used to examine the associations between maternal exposures and children’s outcome measures included beta coefficients (β), RRs, ORs, mean differences, means and correlation coefficients.…”

“…Six studies reported positive associations between maternal weight status and childhood continuous anthropometric and body composition variables (i.e., BMI, WC, FMI, %BF) [ 40 , 42 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 48 ]. Of these four studies examined child BMI-for-Age Z-Scores [ 40 , 44 , 46 , 48 ]; two studies examined WC [ 42 , 44 ]; and two studies examined %BF [ 45 , 46 ]. Childhood BMI was examined in only one prospective cohort study [ 42 ].…”