Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 29, 2025
Author Spotlight: Enhancing the Offspring Health in Rats with Maternal Exercise During Pregnancy
Published on: April 5, 2024
No association between maternal exercise during pregnancy and the child's weight status at age 7 years: The MoBa
Silje Malen Andreassen1, Ulf Ekelund1,2, Guro Pauck Bernhardsen1,3
1Department of Sports Medicine, Norwegian School of Sports Sciences, Oslo, Norway.
Insights
Maternal exercise during pregnancy did not show a link to childhood overweight or obesity. The child's own physical activity level also did not change this association.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Obesity
- Maternal Health
- Public Health
Background:
- Maternal lifestyle choices during pregnancy can influence a child's risk of developing overweight and obesity.
- Understanding the impact of prenatal factors on offspring weight status is crucial for public health initiatives.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between maternal exercise during pregnancy and offspring overweight and obesity in childhood.
- To determine if the child's physical activity level modifies this association.
Main Methods:
- The study utilized data from the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa), analyzing 44,352 pregnancies.
- Maternal exercise was self-reported in gestational weeks 17 and 30.
- Linear and logistic regression models were used to assess child's body mass index (BMI) and weight status at age 7, with analyses stratified by sex.
Main Results:
- No significant association was found between maternal exercise during pregnancy and the child's weight status at age 7.
- Approximately 12.4% of children were classified as overweight or obese.
- The child's leisure time physical activity did not appear to affect the relationship between maternal exercise and offspring weight status.
Conclusions:
- Maternal exercise during pregnancy is not significantly associated with a child's BMI or the likelihood of being overweight or obese in childhood.
- These findings suggest that other factors may play a more significant role in childhood weight development.
Introduction:
Maternal lifestyle during pregnancy may affect the development of overweight and obesity in the child. We examined whether maternal exercise during pregnancy is associated with offspring overweight and obesity in childhood. A secondary aim was to examine whether the association is affected by the child's physical activity level.
Materials And Methods:
This study is based on data from the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa), including 44 352 pregnancies and children (n = 32 304 in week 17 and n = 32 419 in week 30 in the final adjusted model). Maternal exercise during pregnancy was self-reported in gestational weeks 17 and 30. We conducted linear and logistic regression separately for girls and boys, and outcomes were the child's body mass index (BMI) and weight status (overweight/obese) at age 7 years. We further examined the additive joint association between maternal exercise during pregnancy and the child's leisure time physical activity on weight status at age 7 years.
Results:
In total, 12.4% of the children were classified as overweight or obese, and 1.7% as obese. The results suggest no association between maternal exercise in both gestational weeks 17 and 30 and the weight status of the child at age 7 years. The association between maternal exercise and the child's weight status at age 7 years appears not to be affected by the child's physical activity level.
Conclusion:
Maternal exercise level during pregnancy does not appear to be associated with the child's BMI or odds of being overweight or obese in childhood.
Related Concept Videos
01:52Regression Toward the Mean
01:24Obesity
01:29Bias in Epidemiological Studies