Large-birth-weight 1.9 times more common if mother gained 17 lbs in previous 2 years

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Monday, September 29, 2008 1:02 pm Email this article
Children who were born to mothers who had increased their BMI by 3 units or more -- a weight gain of 17 pounds or more for a woman of average height -- were 1.87 more likely to large-birth-weight compared to their older siblings who were born before the mother gained this weight according to a large Swedish study.

“Our results provide robust epidemiological evidence for advocating weight loss in overweight and obese women who are planning to become pregnant and, to prevent weight gain before pregnancy in women with healthy BMIs,” the authors of the study concluded.

This is another example of epigenetic factors where what a mother does influences her offspring.
Large-at-Birth Defined

Large-

Being large-at-birth was defined as being 2 standard deviations above the average weight for children.

This means the child’s weight was in the top 4 percent for children of the same gender of the same gestational age.

 

Subjects

Subjects: 151,025 women who had two children

The study analyzed data from 151,025 women in Sweden “who had their first two consecutive singleton births between 1992 and 2001.”

REFERENCE

Villamor E, Cnattingius S. Interpregnancy weight change and risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes: A population-based study. Lancet. 2006 Sep 30, 368(9542):1164-70.

AUTHOR’S CONTACT INFORMATION

Dr. Eduardo Villamor
Department of Nutrition
Harvard School of Public Health
Boston, MA 02115, USA
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Articles on the same subject can be found here:

• Epigenetics

• Pregnancy