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Maternal overweight before pregnancy and asthma in offspring followed for 8 years

S Scholtens1, A H Wijga, B Brunekreef

  • 1Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands. s.scholtens@epi.umcg.nl

International Journal of Obesity (2005)
|September 30, 2009
PubMed

Insights

Maternal overweight before pregnancy increases childhood asthma risk in predisposed children. This association persists regardless of the child's body mass index (BMI), highlighting a critical prenatal factor for pediatric respiratory health.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Allergy and Immunology
  • Reproductive Health and Epidemiology
  • Environmental Health

Background:

  • Maternal overweight before pregnancy is a growing concern.
  • Increased inflammatory factors associated with maternal overweight may impact fetal development.
  • This could potentially elevate the risk of childhood asthma.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the association between maternal overweight before pregnancy and offspring asthma.
  • To explore if this association is modified by the child's predisposition to asthma.

Main Methods:

  • A birth cohort study followed 3963 children until 8 years of age.
  • Maternal overweight was defined as a body mass index (BMI) > 25 kg/m².
  • Asthma, wheeze, and related factors were assessed via questionnaires and clinical measurements.

Main Results:

  • 14.4% of children had asthma by age 8; 20.9% of mothers were overweight pre-pregnancy.
  • Maternal overweight was linked to increased asthma risk in children with an asthma predisposition (OR=1.52).
  • No significant association was found in children without a predisposition or with sensitization/BHR.

Conclusions:

  • Maternal pre-pregnancy overweight may elevate asthma risk in children with a genetic predisposition.
  • This risk appears independent of the child's own BMI.
  • Early maternal health is a key factor in offspring asthma development.
Abstract

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