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. 2023 Aug;36(4):1327-1338.
doi: 10.1111/jhn.13148. Epub 2023 Feb 22.

Maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index, gestational weight gain and child weight during the first 2 years of life in an Amazonian birth cohort

Lara Lívia Santos da Silva  1   2 , Maíra Barreto Malta  1 , Bárbara Hatzlhoffer Lourenço  1 , Paola Soledad Mosquera  3 , Ana Alice de Araújo Damasceno  3   4 , Paulo Augusto Ribeiro Neves  5 , Marly Augusto Cardoso  1 ; MINA-Brazil Working Group
Affiliations

Maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index, gestational weight gain and child weight during the first 2 years of life in an Amazonian birth cohort

Lara Lívia Santos da Silva et al. J Hum Nutr Diet. 2023 Aug.

Abstract

Background: In socially vulnerable populations, evidence is needed regarding the role of maternal nutritional status on child weight during the first 2 years of life.

Objectives: We aimed to assess the association of pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) and gestational weight gain (GWG) with offspring BMI-for-age z-scores (BAZs) during the first 2 years of life.

Methods: A population-based birth cohort study was conducted with 900 mother-child pairs. Pre-pregnancy weight and weight at delivery were collected from medical records, and anthropometric data were measured at birth and at 6-month, 1-year and 2-year follow-up visits. Linear regression and linear mixed-effect models assessed associations with pre-pregnancy BMI, GWG and BAZ during the first 2 years of life.

Results: Pre-pregnancy overweight and obesity and excessive GWG were positively associated with BAZ at birth and at 1- and 2-year follow-up visits. There were no significant additional BAZ changes per year based on the exposures up to age 2 years.

Conclusions: Elevated maternal pre-pregnancy BMI and GWG were associated with a child's higher BAZ at birth, and these differences remained constant throughout the first 2 years of life in Amazonian children. These findings highlight the importance of promoting adequate maternal weight before pregnancy and during prenatal care also in socially vulnerable populations.

Keywords: child health; maternal nutritional status; paediatric obesity; pre-pregnancy BMI; pregnant women; weight gain.

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References

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