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Maternal Obesity, Gestational Weight Gain, and Asthma in Offspring
Kristen J Polinski1, Jihong Liu2, Nansi S Boghossian1
1Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina.
Insights
Maternal obesity and extreme gestational weight gain increase early childhood asthma risk. Preconception care is vital for improving child health outcomes by addressing these factors.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Obstetrics
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Maternal obesity is prevalent in women of childbearing age.
- Intrauterine exposure to maternal obesity or excessive gestational weight gain may impact offspring's asthma development.
- Childhood asthma remains a significant public health concern.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between maternal obesity and gestational weight gain with childhood asthma.
- To identify specific gestational weight gain patterns linked to increased asthma risk in offspring.
Main Methods:
- Utilized data from the nationally representative Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (n=6,450).
- Asthma diagnosis was based on parental report of a medical professional's diagnosis.
- Generalized estimating equation binomial models were employed to calculate adjusted odds ratios (ORs).
Main Results:
- Children born to obese mothers showed a significantly increased risk of asthma by age 4 (adjusted OR, 1.63).
- Children born to overweight mothers had a similar, though not statistically significant, risk (adjusted OR, 1.25).
- Extreme-low (<5 kg) and extreme-high (≥25 kg) gestational weight gain were associated with increased asthma risk; other measures were not significant predictors.
Conclusions:
- Maternal obesity and extreme gestational weight gain are identified as risk factors for early childhood asthma.
- Findings underscore the long-term impact of intrauterine exposures on child health.
- Highlights the importance of preconception care to mitigate risks and improve pediatric health indicators.
Introduction:
Obesity is common among women of childbearing age; intrauterine exposure to maternal obesity or gestational weight gain may influence the development of asthma in early childhood. We examined the relationships of maternal obesity and gestational weight gain with asthma in offspring.
Methods:
We used data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort, which has a nationally representative sample of children followed from birth in 2001 through age 4 (n = 6,450). Asthma was based on parental report of a medical professional's diagnosis. We used generalized estimating equation binomial models to compute adjusted odds ratios (ORs) of childhood asthma with maternal obesity and 4 measures of gestational weight gain.
Results:
Compared with children of normal-weight mothers, children of obese mothers had increased risk of asthma (adjusted OR, 1.63; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.26-2.12) by age 4, and children born to overweight mothers had similar risk (adjusted OR, 1.25; 95% CI, 0.99-1.59). Extreme-low weight gain (<5 kg) and extreme-high weight gain (≥25 kg) were associated with increased risk of asthma; however, the following measures were not significant predictors of asthma: meeting gestational weight gain recommendations of the Institute of Medicine, total gestational weight gain, and weekly rate of weight gain in the second and third trimesters.
Conclusion:
Extreme-low or extreme-high gestational weight gain and maternal obesity are risk factors for early childhood asthma, further evidence of the long-term impact of intrauterine exposure on children and the need to target preconception care to improve child health indicators.
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