Relationship Between Parental Obesity, Body Mass Index and High-Sensitivity C-Reactive Protein Levels in Offspring.

Area of Science:

• Pediatrics
• Public Health
• Biochemistry

Background:

• Childhood obesity is linked to systemic inflammation, raising risks for lifelong metabolic and cardiovascular diseases.
• Parental body mass index (BMI) is a key factor influencing offspring's inflammatory health from childhood.
• Understanding the interplay between parental and offspring BMI and inflammation is crucial for early intervention.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how parental BMI moderates the association between offspring BMI and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) levels.
• To determine if parental obesity influences inflammatory markers in children independently of their own BMI.
• To analyze the impact of parental obesity on offspring's inflammatory status in a Brazilian population.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional study involving 423 children and adolescents in southern Brazil.
• Offspring BMI calculated from measured height/weight; parental BMI from self-report.
• hs-CRP levels measured via high-sensitivity assay; analyzed using multiple linear regression with PROCESS macro.

Main Results:

• A direct linear association was found between offspring BMI and hs-CRP levels.
• Paternal obesity showed a direct relationship with offspring hs-CRP levels.
• An inverse interaction between paternal BMI and offspring BMI indicated that children with lower BMI but obese parents had higher hs-CRP.

Conclusions:

• Children of parents with obesity exhibit elevated inflammation (hs-CRP) regardless of their own BMI.
• Parental obesity is an independent risk factor for increased systemic inflammation in offspring.
• Early life inflammation in children may be influenced by the familial environment, particularly parental weight status.