Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2015 Nov;30(11):1141-52.
doi: 10.1007/s10654-015-0085-7. Epub 2015 Sep 16.

Maternal obesity during pregnancy and cardiovascular development and disease in the offspring

Romy Gaillard  1   2   3
Affiliations
Review

Maternal obesity during pregnancy and cardiovascular development and disease in the offspring

Romy Gaillard. Eur J Epidemiol. 2015 Nov.

Abstract

Maternal obesity during pregnancy is an important public health problem in Western countries. Currently, obesity prevalence rates in pregnant women are estimated to be as high as 30%. In addition, approximately 40% of women gain an excessive amount of weight during pregnancy in Western countries. An accumulating body of evidence suggests a long-term impact of maternal obesity and excessive weight gain during pregnancy on adiposity, cardiovascular and metabolic related health outcomes in the offspring in fetal life, childhood and adulthood. In this review, we discuss results from recent studies, potential underlying mechanisms and challenges for future epidemiological studies.

Keywords: Adult cardiovascular risk factors; Adverse pregnancy outcomes; Childhood cardiovascular risk factors; Childhood obesity; Excessive gestational weight gain; Fetal death; Maternal obesity.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Maternal obesity during pregnancy and offspring developmental adaptations (conceptual model for potential underlying mechanisms for the associations of maternal obesity during pregnancy with adverse cardiovascular and metabolic health outcomes in offspring)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Ritchey MD, Loustalot F, Bowman BA, Hong Y. Trends in mortality rates by subtypes of heart disease in the United States, 2000–2010. JAMA, J Am Med Assoc. 2014;312(19):2037–2039. doi: 10.1001/jama.2014.11344. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Berrington de Gonzalez A, Hartge P, Cerhan JR, et al. Body-mass index and mortality among 1.46 million white adults. N Engl J Med. 2010;363(23):2211–2219. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1000367. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Pischon T, Boeing H, Hoffmann K, et al. General and abdominal adiposity and risk of death in Europe. N Engl J Med. 2008;359(20):2105–2120. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa0801891. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Grundy SM, Benjamin IJ, Burke GL, et al. Diabetes and cardiovascular disease: a statement for healthcare professionals from the American Heart Association. Circulation. 1999;100(10):1134–1146. doi: 10.1161/01.CIR.100.10.1134. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Pollitt RA, Kaufman JS, Rose KM, Diez-Roux AV, Zeng D, Heiss G. Early-life and adult socioeconomic status and inflammatory risk markers in adulthood. Eur J Epidemiol. 2007;22(1):55–66. doi: 10.1007/s10654-006-9082-1. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types