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Gestational Weight Gain and Overweight in Children Aged 3-6 Years

Lianhong Guo1, Jufen Liu, Rongwei Ye

  • 1Department of Health Toxicology, School of Public Health, Central South University.

Journal of Epidemiology
|June 30, 2015
PubMed

Insights

Excessive gestational weight gain (GWG) increases childhood overweight risk. Mothers who were overweight before pregnancy and gained too much weight had children with double the risk of being overweight.

Area of Science:

  • Maternal and child health
  • Public health
  • Pediatrics

Background:

  • Childhood overweight is a growing public health concern.
  • Maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) and gestational weight gain (GWG) are potential risk factors for childhood overweight.
  • Understanding the independent and combined effects of these factors is crucial for developing effective prevention strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the association between gestational weight gain (GWG) and the odds of childhood overweight.
  • To examine this association after controlling for pre-pregnancy BMI.
  • To identify specific risk profiles for childhood overweight based on maternal pre-pregnancy weight status and GWG.

Main Methods:

  • Prospective cohort study of 100,612 mother-child pairs in China.
  • GWG assessed as a continuous and categorical variable.
  • Childhood overweight defined using age- and sex-specific BMI cutoffs for children aged 3-6 years.

Main Results:

  • A 1-kg increase in maternal GWG correlated with a 0.009 increase in children's mean BMI.
  • Excessive GWG was associated with a 1.21 odds ratio for childhood overweight.
  • Children of mothers who were overweight/obese pre-pregnancy and had excessive GWG had the highest risk (OR 2.22) of being overweight.

Conclusions:

  • Higher maternal GWG is linked to increased offspring BMI and a greater risk of childhood overweight.
  • Maternal pre-pregnancy overweight/obesity combined with excessive GWG significantly elevates childhood overweight risk.
  • Strategies should focus on appropriate GWG and preventing maternal overweight/obesity before pregnancy to mitigate childhood overweight.
Abstract

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