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Parental BMI, income, smoking associated with childhood BMI, overweight
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Parental BMI, income and smoking status during pregnancy have direct effects on offspring BMI and overweight at age 7 and 11 years, independent of birth weight, according to findings presented at the European Congress on Obesity.
“We investigated whether the well-known risk factors for childhood overweight have an association with childhood BMI beyond the effects working through growth in early life,” Camilla Schmidt Morgen, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher at Bispebjerg Hospital, Copenhagen University, Denmark, told Endocrine Today. “The take-home message is that a high parental BMI, smoking during pregnancy and low maternal socioeconomic position is associated with childhood BMI, and that the effects are lasting beyond the early childhood period.”
Morgen, Jennifer L. Baker, PhD, and Thorkild I.A. Sørensen, MD, also of Bispebjerg Hospital, Copenhagen University, Denmark, analyzed data from family units in the Danish National Birth Cohort with information on maternal, paternal and child BMI at age 7 (n= 29,374) and 11 years (n= 18,044); information came from maternal interviews and health exams. Researchers used statistical modeling to estimate the direct and indirect effects of prenatal risk factors on childhood BMI, and further modeling was used to estimate any associations with childhood overweight.
Researchers observed that the strongest direct effects on BMI at age 7 and 11 years were found for maternal smoking during pregnancy and for maternal and paternal BMI, with a slightly stronger effect for the mother’s BMI than the father’s, they noted.
In analyses with overweight as the outcome, researchers also found that parental BMI and smoking during pregnancy had effects that were working beyond and independent of the child’s body size during infancy.
“The results can be used to focus future preventive work targeting childhood obesity,” Morgen said, adding that future studies should include a longer follow-up period.
“We followed the children to age 11 years. ... It would be interesting to examine whether the effects of early-life risk factors on BMI lasts into adolescence and early adulthood,” Morgen said.
In a press release, the researchers added that further research will be done with the same cohort to explore the direct and indirect effects of postnatal risk factors, with a particular focus on infant nutrition. – by Regina Schaffer
Reference:
Morgen CS, Baker J. Oral presentation OS10:OC44. European Congress on Obesity; May 17-20, 2017; Porto, Portugal.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.