Association of Maternal Prepregnancy BMI With Offspring Cardiometabolic Outcomes in Childhood

Objective This study aimed to evaluate associations of maternal prepregnancy BMI with offspring BMI and blood pressure in childhood, specifically for infants born preterm. Methods In this observational cohort study of children in the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Cohort, we utilized four levels of maternal prepregnancy BMI and child BMI. Children were categorized as being born extremely, very, or moderately preterm; late preterm; or term. Results In total, 13,810 children from 44 ECHO cohorts were included in these analyses. After adjusting for maternal education, maternal age at delivery, and singleton birth, a monotonic dose relationship was noted between child BMI z ‐scores and maternal prepregnancy BMI level. For child blood pressure outcomes, only extremely preterm children born to mothers with healthy weight and obesity and very/moderately preterm children born to mothers with healthy weight had higher odds of elevated blood pressure/hypertension compared with their term counterparts. Conclusions High maternal prepregnancy BMI was associated with a stepwise increase in offspring BMI in childhood. Preterm children had a higher probability of elevated blood pressure/hypertension than term children. These findings highlight a possible window of opportunity to modify lifestyles and behavior of at‐risk children prior to adolescence to positively impact adolescent cardiometabolic health.