Pregnancy Weight Gain and Childhood Body Weight: A Within-Family Comparison

Ludwig, David S.; Rouse, Heather L.; Currie, Janet

doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001521

Cited by 60 publications

(60 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…[21][22][23] One study reported that the GWG-childhood overweight associations are completely explained by behavioral and environmental factors, 21 and another study concluded that GWG is associated with child's weight, independent of behavioral and environmental factors. 22 Besides differences in age of outcome between the 2 studies, the conclusion may also differ according to maternal prepregnancy BMI: 1 study concluded that most of the GWG-offspring overweight association was explained by lifestyle and genetic factors in normal weight mothers, and there was a contribution of intrauterine programming in overweight mothers. 23 Studies reporting associations between GWG and childhood obesity adjusted for birth weight, and most concluded that the association is not explained by tracking of birth size, although associations attenuate.…”

Section: Comparison With Earlier Studies and Interpretationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maternal Gestational and Postdelivery Weight Gain and Child Weight

et al. 2015

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BACKGROUND: Maternal gestational weight gain (GWG) is a risk factor for the development of overweight in her child. It is unknown whether GWG programs the child's health or whether GWG indicates a shared familial lifestyle during childhood. To disentangle these influences, we studied the association of GWG and postdelivery maternal weight change simultaneously with child's weight development. METHODS:We used data from 3367 children participating in a birth cohort that started in 1996 in the Netherlands. Weight and height were self-reported. GWG was categorized as "inadequate," "adequate," and "excessive." Multivariable regression and mixed models were used to study maternal and child weight changes.RESULTS: Children of mothers with excessive GWG had a higher BMI z score and overweight prevalence (odds ratio [OR] 1.20; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.99 to 1.46) throughout childhood. Children of mothers with a high ($1 kg/year) postdelivery weight gain had a 0.14 (95% CI, 20.08 to 0.36) higher change in BMI z score between age 1 and 14 years than children of mothers with a low (,0.5 kg/year) postdelivery weight gain. Children of mothers with excessive GWG in combination with a high postdelivery weight gain had the highest BMI z score and overweight risk at age 14 years (OR 3.53; 95% CI, 1.70 to 7.33).CONCLUSIONS: Maternal GWG and postdelivery weight gain contribute to child's weight development up to adolescence independently. WHAT'S KNOWN ON THIS SUBJECT:Maternal gestational weight gain is associated with childhood overweight. It is unknown whether gestational weight gain programs the child' s health or whether gestational weight gain is an indicator of postnatal behavioral factors. WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS:We disentangled these influences by studying the effect of gestational weight gain simultaneously with postdelivery maternal weight change as an indicator for shared family lifestyle on child' s weight development and found that both had an independent effect.

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Section: Comparison With Earlier Studies and Interpretationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maternal Gestational and Postdelivery Weight Gain and Child Weight

et al. 2015

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“…Berglind et al (2014) did not find any significant associations between total GWG and childhood BMI at ages 4 and 6 years, neither within nor between sibling pairs. The implications of the positive association from Ludwig et al (2013) can, however, be discussed, as the effect size was very small (␤ = 0.02 kg/m 2 for every 1-kg increase in GWG, 95% CI: 0.01, 0.03) and could possibly be explained by residual confounding from unmeasured non-shared factors. Although the results from our study (which show no significant associations between total or trimester-specific GWG and infant and childhood weight/BMI) point in the same direction as the study by Branum et al (2011), we cannot confirm those findings due to the fact that we had similar non-significant results in the between-pair analyses.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Total and Trimester-Specific Gestational Weight Gain and Offspring Birth and Early Childhood Weight: A Prospective Cohort Study on Monozygotic Twin Mothers and Their Offspring

et al. 2016

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Gestational weight gain (GWG) has in numerous studies been associated with offspring birth weight (BW) and childhood weight. However, these associations might be explained by genetic confounding as offspring inherit their mother's genetic potential to gain weight. Furthermore, little is known about whether particular periods of pregnancy could influence offspring body weight differently. We therefore aimed to explore total and trimester-specific effects of GWG in monozygotic (MZ) twin mother-pairs on their offspring's BW, weight at 1 year and body mass index (BMI) at 5 and 10 years. MZ twin mothers born 1962-1975 were identified in national Swedish registers, and data on exposure and outcome variables was collected from medical records. We analyzed associations within and between twin pairs. We had complete data on the mothers' GWG and offspring BW for 82 pairs. The results indicated that total, and possibly also second and third trimester GWG were associated with offspring BW within the twin pairs in the fully adjusted model (␤ = 0.08 z-score units, 95% CI: 0.001, 0.17; ␤ = 1.32 z-score units, 95% CI: -0.29, 2.95; and ␤ = 1.02 z-score units, 95% CI: -0.50, 2.54, respectively). Our findings, although statistically weak, suggested no associations between GWG and offspring weight or BMI during infancy or childhood. Our study suggests that total, and possibly also second and third trimester, GWG are associated with offspring BW when taking shared genetic and environmental factors within twin pairs into account. Larger family-based studies with long follow-up are needed to confirm our findings.Keywords: gestational weight gain, gestational trimester, birth weight, childhood body weight, genetics, monozygotic twins GWG has been extensively studied over the past two decades and an excessive GWG has been associated with adverse pregnancy-related and childhood outcomes. These include gestational diabetes and increased risk of high BW and overweight and obesity in the offspring (Diesel et al., 2015;Guo et al., 2015;Hedderson, et al., 2010;Ludwig & Currie, 2010;Oken et al., 2007;Wrotniak et al., 2008). There is also evidence that GWG might have different effects on offspring BW and childhood weight/BMI, depending on the timing of the weight gain. The majority of the studies that have investigated trimester-specific effects of GWG on BW or adiposity at birth found effects for all trimesters (Abrams

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“…Previous researchers have found that child birth weight attenuates the effect of mother's pregnancy weight gain on childhood obesity (e.g. Ludwig et al, 2013). Birth weight in pounds is positively and significantly related to both the probability of being overweight and obese as a preschooler.…”

Section: Descriptive Statistics and Olsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this theory chronic, degenerative conditions of adult health, including heart disease and type 2 diabetes, might be triggered by circumstances occurring decades earlier, such as in utero nutrition 2 The fetal origins theory posits that obesity is passed from mothers to children through high concentrations of glucose and fatty acids that pass through the placenta. Mothers with high pre-pregnancy BMI and those who gain excessive amounts of weight during pregnancy have more fat and thus deliver greater concentrations of glucose and fatty acids to the developing fetus (Catalano, 2003 A primary challenge in using observational data to make cross-family comparisons of unrelated children concerning the effect of pre-pregnancy obesity on childhood obesity is that the comparisons might reflect not only the intrauterine effects of maternal pre-pregnancy obesity but also obesity-promoting or environmental factors that are shared between a mother and her child (Lau et al, 2014;Ludwig et al, 2013). Some risk factors for childhood obesity are observable and reflect post-natal interactions between mother and child, such as time spent watching television, dietary patterns, or the general quality of the home environment (Strauss and Knight, 1999;Reilly et al, 2005).…”

Section: Introduction and Previous Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

The Relationship Between Maternal Pre-pregnancy BMI and Preschool Obesity

Averett

Fletcher

2016

Applied Demography and Public Health in the 21st Century

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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. ABSTRACT The Relationship between Maternal Pre-Pregnancy BMI and Preschool Obesity The increasing prevalence of obesity during pregnancy raises concerns over the intergenerational transmission of obesity and its potential to exacerbate the current obesity epidemic. The fetal origins hypothesis posits that the intrauterine environment might have lasting effects on children's outcomes. A large literature establishes that mother's pre-pregnancy obesity is correlated with obesity in her children. However, previous research is largely based on comparing individuals across families and hence cannot control for unobservable factors associated with both maternal and child obesity. We use both within-family comparisons and an instrumental variable approach on a sample of 4435 children to identify the effect of maternal pre-pregnancy obesity on obesity in preschool-aged children. Consistent with extant research, OLS models that rely on across-family comparisons indicate a significant correlation between maternal pre-pregnancy obesity and preschool obesity. However, maternal fixed effects render those associations insignificant. Instrumenting for mother's BMI with her sisters' BMI values confirms the null result indicating that the in utero transmission of obesity is likely not driving the increase in childhood obesity. JEL Classification: I12, J13

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Pregnancy Weight Gain and Childhood Body Weight: A Within-Family Comparison

Abstract: David Ludwig and colleagues examine the within-family relationship between pregnancy weight gain and the offspring's childhood weight gain, thereby reducing the influence of genes and environment. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary

Cited by 60 publications

References 49 publications

Maternal Gestational and Postdelivery Weight Gain and Child Weight

Maternal Gestational and Postdelivery Weight Gain and Child Weight

Total and Trimester-Specific Gestational Weight Gain and Offspring Birth and Early Childhood Weight: A Prospective Cohort Study on Monozygotic Twin Mothers and Their Offspring

The Relationship Between Maternal Pre-pregnancy BMI and Preschool Obesity

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