Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 5, 2025

Author Spotlight: Collecting the Brain and Serum from the Same Mice Fetus to Study Brain Tumor Development
Published on: May 17, 2024
What Links Maternal Prepregnancy BMI to Early Childhood BMI: A Serial Mediation Analysis
Yuanyuan Zhang1, Hong Mei2, Ke Xu1
1Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
Objective:
The aim of this study was to explore the potential impact of maternal gestational weight gain (GWG), infant birth weight, and postnatal weight change (ΔWAZ) on the relationship between maternal prepregnancy BMI (ppBMI) and childhood BMI.
Methods:
This retrospective cohort study analyzed a data set from Wuhan, China. The mediation effect of targeted mediators on the association between maternal BMI and childhood BMI at the age of 2 years was analyzed.
Results:
In the mediation model comprising maternal GWG, infant birth weight, and the first-6-month ΔWAZ as mediators of the association between ppBMI and children's BMI, the per unit increase in ppBMI resulted in a 0.01-kg/m2 increase in children's BMI, through all three mediators. For the model comprising infant birth weight and the first-6-month ΔWAZ as mediators but maternal GWG as a moderator, the indirect effects of the first-6-month ΔWAZ on the relationship between ppBMI and childhood BMI was 0.0018 higher when maternal GWG increased from average values to 1 SD above the average values.
Conclusions:
Maternal GWG, infant birth weight, and the first-6-month ΔWAZ mediated the effects of maternal ppBMI on children's BMI. Interventions targeting these factors can mitigate the risk of childhood obesity.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Regression Toward the Mean
Relationship with Parents: Attachment
Environmental Influences on Intelligence
Obesity
Bulimia Nervosa
Socioemotional Development during Infancy
Primary Temperament Types

