Parental prepregnancy obesity and offspring overweight before two years of age among Chinese women with gestational diabetes

Abstract

AimsTo examine the associations of parental obesity prior to pregnancy with offspring overweight before two years of age among children of Chinese women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). MethodsOffspring of women with GDM (n = 774) who were diagnosed in 2010–2012 were followed up to two years of age in Tianjin, China. Multinomial logistic regression was used to obtain odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of maternal and paternal prepregnancy obesity with offspring overweight at < 1, 1–1.5, and 1.5–2 years of age. ResultsAmong 774 offspring of women with GDM, 457 (59.0%) of the offspring developed overweight before two years of age. Maternal prepregnancy obesity was associated with increased risk of offspring overweight at 1–1.5 years of age and 1.5–2 years of age (ORs: 1.98, 95%CI: 1.09–3.59 & 2.14, 1.10–4.15, respectively). Paternal prepregnancy obesity was only associated with elevated risk of offspring overweight at 1.5–2 years of age (1.82, 1.08–3.06). Furthermore, copresence of both maternal and paternal obesity prior to pregnancy had an additive effect on the risk of offspring overweight at 1.5–2 years of age (3.73, 1.50–9.27). ConclusionsParental prepregnancy obesity predicted offspring overweight before two years of age among children of Chinese women with GDM.