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Maternal obesity and offspring cognition: the role of inflammation

Carmen Monthé-Drèze1, Sheryl L Rifas-Shiman2, Diane R Gold3

  • 1Department of Pediatric Newborn Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA. cmonthe-dreze@partners.org.

Pediatric Research
|November 14, 2018
PubMed

Insights

High pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) in mothers is linked to lower visual-motor skills in children. Maternal inflammation, specifically C-reactive protein (CRP), may partially explain this association, suggesting a potential mediating role.

Area of Science:

  • Reproductive Health
  • Child Development
  • Epidemiology

Background:

  • High pre-pregnancy body mass index (ppBMI) is associated with adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes in children.
  • Mechanisms linking maternal obesity to child neurodevelopment are not well understood in human studies.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the association between pre-pregnancy BMI categories and child cognitive and visual-motor abilities.
  • To examine the role of maternal inflammation during pregnancy as a potential mediator.

Main Methods:

  • Longitudinal study of 1361 mother-child pairs (Project Viva).
  • Assessed ppBMI, maternal plasma C-reactive protein (CRP), dietary inflammatory index (DII), and omega-6:omega-3 fatty acid ratio in pregnancy.
  • Evaluated child cognitive function (PPVT, KBIT) and visual-motor abilities (WRAVMA) at early and mid-childhood.

Main Results:

  • Children of mothers with obesity (ppBMI ≥30 kg/m²) had lower visual-motor scores (WRAVMA) in early childhood compared to normal weight mothers.
  • This association was attenuated when adjusted for maternal CRP, suggesting a mediating role for inflammation.
  • No significant associations were found between ppBMI and other cognitive outcomes.

Conclusions:

  • Maternal inflammation may partially mediate the relationship between maternal obesity and offspring visual-motor development.
  • Findings highlight the importance of maternal metabolic health during pregnancy for child neurodevelopment.
Abstract

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