Maternal Obesity and Offspring Long-Term Infectious Morbidity

Abstract

Obesity is a leading cause of morbidity world-wide. Maternal obesity is associated with adverse perinatal outcomes. Furthermore, Obesity has been associated with increased susceptibility to infections. The purpose of this study was to evaluate long-term pediatric infectious morbidity of children born to obese mothers. This population-based cohort analysis compared deliveries of obese (maternal pre-pregnancy BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2) and non-obese patients at a single tertiary medical center. Hospitalizations of the offspring up to the age of 18 years involving infectious morbidities were evaluated according to a predefined set of ICD-9 codes. A Kaplan–Meier survival curve was used to compare cumulative hospitalization incidence between the groups and Cox proportional hazards model was used to control for possible confounders. 249,840 deliveries were included. Of them, 3399 were children of obese mothers. Hospitalizations involving infectious morbidity were significantly more common in children born to obese mothers compared with non-obese patients (12.5% vs. 11.0%, p < 0.01). The Kaplan–Meier survival curve demonstrated a significantly higher cumulative incidence of infectious-related hospitalizations in the obese group (log rank p = 0.03). Using the Cox regression model, maternal obesity was found to be an independent risk factor for long-term infectious morbidity of the offspring (adjusted HR = 1.125, 95% CI 1.021–1.238, p = 0.017).

Maternal pre-pregnancy weight and early life lower respiratory tract infections in a low-income urban minority birth cohort

“…Importantly, our findings are in agreement with previous studies in young children from other diverse backgrounds 5 , 9 , 20 . Notably, the link between maternal obesity and lower respiratory tract infections in infants under one year of age was demonstrated by Rajappan et al, who described a LRTI relative risk of 1.23 among children born to obese mothers in a longitudinal birth cohort of 2,799 British infant-mother pairs 5 .…”

Maternal and Neonatal Hair Cortisol Levels Are Associated with Infant Neurodevelopment at Six Months of Age

“…The findings reported in this study are of high value for midwives and obstetricians when taking care of pregnant women, and researchers, who may use them to prevent negative outcomes and enhance adequate development among infants. The perinatal period is a highly vulnerable stage when it is paramount to provide the best maternity care [60].…”

Perinatal Outcome and Long-Term Infectious Morbidity of Offspring Born to Women with Known Tuberculosis

“…Previous studies associated maternal inflammatory statuses with offspring with long-term alterations of immune responses that result in childhood infectious morbidity. These maternal conditions were pure infectious diseases [ 19 , 30 , 31 ], but were also attributed to conditions such as obesity and smoking that may involve maternal subclinical inflammation [ 20 , 21 , 32 , 33 , 34 ]. This association between intrauterine inflammation and childhood morbidity, however, showed mixed trends in different studies.…”

“…In contrast, other studies showed increased risk of short and long- term infectious morbidity in children born to mothers with an augmented inflammatory state during pregnancy. Preterm birth, maternal urinary tract infection, maternal obesity and maternal substance abuse were all demonstrated to be associated with increased infectious morbidity of the offspring [ 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 ]. We hypothesized that maternal tuberculosis can also promote an intrauterine environment that may alter immune responses of the offspring in his future.…”