Females born large for gestational age have a doubled risk of giving birth to large for gestational age infants

Abstract

Aim: To analyse if females born large for gestational age (LGA) have an increased risk to give birth to LGA infants and to study anthropometric characteristics in macrosomic infants of females born LGA.

Methods: The investigation was performed as an intergenerational retrospective study of women born between 1973 and 1983, who delivered their first infant between 1989 and 1999. Birth characteristics of 47,783 females, included in the Swedish Birth Register both as newborns and mothers were analysed. LGA was defined as >2 SD in either birth weight or length for gestational age. The infants were divided into three subgroups: born tall only, born heavy only and born both tall and heavy for gestational age. Multiple logistic and linear regression analyses were performed.

Results: Females, born LGA with regard to length or weight, had a two-fold (adjusted OR 1.96, 95% Cl 1.54-2.48) increased risk to give birth to an LGA infant. Females, born LGA concerning weight only, had a 2.6 (adjusted OR 2.63, 95%, 1.85-3.75) fold increased risk of having an LGA offspring heavy only and no elevated risk of giving birth to an offspring that was tall only, compared to females born not LGA. In addition, maternal obesity was associated with a 2.5 (adjusted OR 2.56, 95%, 2.20-2.98) fold increased risk of having an LGA newborn, compared to mothers with normal weight.

Conclusion: Females, born LGA, have an increased risk to give birth to LGA infants, compared to mothers born not LGA. Maternal overweight increases this risk even further.