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Pre-pregnancy body mass index and offspring neurobehavioral development: a birth cohort study

Peng Sun1, Youdan Hu2, Min Wei1

  • 1Maternity and Child Healthcare Hospital of Nanshan District, Shenzhen, China.

Frontiers in Nutrition
|October 13, 2025
PubMed

Insights

Maternal overweight or obesity before pregnancy is linked to developmental delays in children, particularly in communication and problem-solving skills. This risk is more pronounced in boys, highlighting the importance of pre-pregnancy weight management.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Neurodevelopment
  • Maternal Health & Nutrition
  • Environmental Epidemiology

Background:

  • Neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) in children are prevalent, necessitating early intervention.
  • Prenatal environmental factors' impact on NDDs requires further investigation.
  • Maternal pre-pregnancy Body Mass Index (BMI) is a key prenatal factor influencing offspring neurodevelopment.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the longitudinal association between maternal pre-pregnancy BMI and neurobehavioral development in offspring.
  • To identify specific neurodevelopmental domains affected by maternal pre-pregnancy BMI.
  • To explore potential sex-specific effects in this association.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized data from the Shenzhen Birth Cohort (2,255 mother-child pairs).
  • Collected maternal pre-pregnancy BMI and sociodemographic data via questionnaires.
  • Assessed child neurobehavioral development (1-36 months) using the Ages and Stages Questionnaires, Third Edition (ASQ-3).
  • Employed generalized estimating equations for statistical analysis.

Main Results:

  • Maternal overweight/obesity (9.0% of cohort) significantly increased risks for communication (aOR=1.55) and problem-solving (aOR=1.44) delays.
  • Sex-stratified analysis revealed significant associations in boys for problem-solving (aOR=1.60) and personal-social domains (aOR=1.43).
  • Underweight and normal BMI categories showed no significant increased risk for developmental delays.

Conclusions:

  • Maternal pre-pregnancy overweight/obesity is an independent risk factor for offspring neurobehavioral developmental delays.
  • Observed sex-specific effects suggest differential impacts on male and female neurodevelopment.
  • Pre-pregnancy weight management is crucial for primary prevention strategies targeting NDDs.
Abstract

Keywords:
birth cohortneurobehavioral developmentpre-pregnancy BMIrisk factorssex differences

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