Shows higher adiposity trajectories in children of overweight or obese mothers, suggesting intervention importance.
Introduction and Objective: Childhood adiposity is a risk factor for chronic disease development. While maternal obesity has been linked to higher offspring body mass index, there is limited data on associations with adiposity trajectories. We assessed % fat mass (%FM) trajectories from birth to adolescence by maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index (ppBMI). Methods: We used data from 1,270 mother-child pairs in the Healthy Start Study, a Colorado pre-birth cohort. Maternal ppBMI values were categorized as pre-pregnancy healthy weight (<25 kg/m2), overweight (25-30 kg/m2), or obesity (≥30 kg/m2). Offspring %FM was measured with air displacement plethysmography at birth (~2 days), infancy (~5 months), early-childhood (~5 years), mid-childhood (~9 years) and adolescence (~11 years). Longitudinal mean response profile models, adjusted for maternal factors and child sex, were used to assess offspring %FM by ppBMI category. Results: Offspring of mothers with pre-pregnancy overweight or obesity had consistently higher mean %FM from early-childhood onward compared with offspring of mothers with pre-pregnancy healthy weight. Adiposity trajectories further diverged between groups over time (Figure). Conclusion: Maternal overweight and obesity are associated with higher offspring adiposity trajectories from early-childhood through adolescence. Efforts addressing maternal pre-pregnancy obesity status may reduce childhood adiposity. Disclosure M. Farron: None. D. Glueck: None. W. Perng: None. C. Friedman: None. C.C. Cohen: None. M. Kelsey: Research Support; Current; Rhythm Pharmaceuticals, Inc. D. Dabelea: None.
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