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[Relationship between maternal nutritional status and obesity in Brazilian children]
1Saúde do Rio de Janeiro, PAISMCA, Rio de Janeiro, RJ-Brasil.
Insights
Maternal nutritional status significantly impacts child obesity risk. Overweight mothers increase a child
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Pediatrics
- Nutrition Science
Context:
- Childhood obesity is a growing global concern with complex etiological factors.
- Maternal nutritional status before and during pregnancy is increasingly recognized as a significant determinant of offspring health outcomes.
- Understanding these relationships is crucial for developing targeted public health interventions.
Purpose:
- To investigate the association between maternal nutritional status and childhood obesity in a large Brazilian population sample.
- To quantify the odds of child obesity based on maternal body mass index (BMI) categories.
- To explore the influence of socioeconomic factors like maternal education and family income on this relationship.
Summary:
- A 1989 study analyzed 12,414 mother-child pairs from Brazil.
- Maternal nutritional status was categorized as underweight (BMI < 20 kg/m²), normal (20 ≤ BMI < 25 kg/m²), or overweight (BMI ≥ 25 kg/m²).
- Children's overweight status was defined as ≥ +2 standard deviations above the NCHS growth reference curve, observed in 4.8% of children. Mothers' underweight and overweight prevalence was 15.3% and 35.9%, respectively. Compared to underweight mothers, normal weight and overweight mothers had 2.5 and 3.2 times the odds of having an obese child, respectively.
Impact:
- The findings indicate a significant positive correlation between maternal overweight/obesity and increased odds of childhood obesity in Brazil.
- Maternal education and family income were identified as key modifying factors, amplifying the association between maternal and child obesity.
- These results underscore the importance of addressing maternal nutrition and socioeconomic determinants in strategies to combat childhood obesity.
Abstract:
The relationship between maternal (age between 20 and 50 years) nutritional status (NS) and children's (age < 10 years) obesity level was studied in a probabilistic sample of the Brazilian population of all ages (n = 63,213) conducted in 1989. Maternal NS was classified as underweight (UW-Body mass index (BMI) < 20 kg.m-2), normal (20 < or = BMI < 25) and overweight (OW, BMI < or = 25). Overweight was identified in children with body mass of stature > or = + 2 standard deviations of the American growth reference curve (NCHS). There were a total of 12,414 mother-child pairs. OW was observed in 4.8% of the children. UW and OW were seen in 15.3 and 35.9% of the mothers, respectively. With the UW mothers as reference, the odds ratio (OR) of a child being obese and his/her mother's NS being normal or OW was 2.5 (95% confidence interval (CI), 1.7-3.5) and 3.2 (2.2-4.5), respectively. This relationship was influenced by maternal education, OR = 2.9 (1.7-4.8) for mothers with 12 years of education in relation of the ones without any formal education and family per capita income, OR = 3.8 (2.8-5.2) for mothers in the 4th in relation to those in the 1st quartile. These data suggest a positive relationship between maternal and child obesity in the Brazilian population.