Is prepregnancy obesity associated with risk of cerebral palsy and epilepsy in children?

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Chun Pan1, Chelsea B Deroche1, Joshua R Mann2

  • 1Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA.

Journal of Child Neurology
|December 17, 2013
PubMed

Insights

Maternal pre-pregnancy obesity is linked to a higher risk of cerebral palsy in children. However, this study found no association between maternal obesity and the risk of childhood epilepsy.

Area of Science:

  • Obstetrics and Gynecology
  • Pediatrics
  • Neurology

Background:

  • Maternal obesity is a growing public health concern.
  • Understanding its impact on offspring neurodevelopmental outcomes is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the association between pre-pregnancy obesity in women and the risk of cerebral palsy and epilepsy in their children.

Main Methods:

  • Retrospective cohort study utilizing South Carolina Medicaid data.
  • Inclusion of 83,901 maternal-child pairs.
  • Analysis of cerebral palsy diagnoses (any and confirmed) and epilepsy diagnoses.

Main Results:

  • No significant association found between maternal body mass index and childhood epilepsy risk.
  • A significant association observed between increasing maternal body mass index and any diagnosis of cerebral palsy.
  • Morbid obesity was associated with an increased risk of both any and confirmed cerebral palsy.

Conclusions:

  • Maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index is associated with an increased risk of cerebral palsy in offspring.
  • No evidence supports an association between maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index and childhood epilepsy.

Keywords:
body mass indexcerebral palsyepilepsyobesity

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