Postnatal Weight Growth Research Articles

Prenatal Infection by Respiratory Viruses Is Associated with Immunoinflammatory Responses in the Fetus.

Rationale: Respiratory viral infections can be transmitted from pregnant women to their offspring, but frequency, mechanisms, and postnatal outcomes remain unclear. Objectives: The aims of this prospective cohort study were to compare the frequencies of transplacental transmission of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), analyze the concentrations of inflammatory mediators in maternal and fetal blood, and assess clinical consequences. Methods: We recruited pregnant women who developed upper respiratory infections or tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. Maternal and cord blood samples were collected at delivery. Study questionnaires and electronic medical records were used to document demographic and medical information. Measurements and Main Results: From October 2020 to June 2022, droplet digital PCR was used to test blood mononuclear cells from 103 mother-baby dyads. Twice more newborns in our sample were vertically infected with RSV compared with SARS-CoV-2 (25.2% [26 of 103] vs. 11.9% [12 of 101]; P = 0.019). Multiplex ELISA measured significantly increased concentrations of several inflammatory cytokines and chemokines in maternal and cord blood from newborns, with evidence of viral exposure in utero compared with control dyads. Prenatal infection was associated with significantly lower birth weight and postnatal weight growth. Conclusions: Data suggest a higher frequency of vertical transmission for RSV than SARS-CoV-2. Intrauterine exposure is associated with fetal inflammation driven by soluble inflammatory mediators, with expression profiles dependent on the virus type and affecting the rate of viral transmission. Virus-induced inflammation may have pathological consequences already in the first days of life, as shown by its effects on birth weight and postnatal weight growth.

Postnatal weight growth trajectory in infants born between 30 4/7 weeks and 34 3/7 weeks of gestation.

Postnatal weight growth trajectory in infants born between 30 4/7 weeks and 34 3/7 weeks of gestation.

Intrauterine exposure to hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and postnatal growth in extremely and very preterm infants.

There is growing evidence regarding the association between rapid growth during infancy and metabolic and cardiovascular diseases later in life. We aimed to evaluate postnatal growth trajectories in extremely and very preterm infants exposed to hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) in utero. This multicenter retrospective study used a nationwide database of preterm infants weighing ≤1,500g born between 22 and 31weeks of gestation between 2003 and 2015. The Z-scores for height and weight were evaluated at three time points (at birth, corrected age of 1.5years, and chronological age of 3years) in 5,144 infants (HDP, n=1,188; non-HDP, n=3,956). Univariate and multivariate regression analyses were performed to investigate the associations between HDP exposure and accelerated postnatal growth. Male and female infants in the HDP group showed increased mean Z-scores for height and weight, whereas those in the non-HDP group showed decreased mean Z-scores. Multivariate analyses showed that HDP were associated with accelerated postnatal growth (Δ Z-scores) in weight in both male and female infants (β coefficient [95% CI]; male 0.17 [0.05-0.30], female 0.27 [0.14-0.39]), but not in height (male 0.02 [-0.09 to 0.13], female 0.04 [-0.06 to 0.15]). An interaction analysis revealed no significant differences in the effects of HDP on postnatal growth between male and female infants. Intrauterine exposure to HDP contributes to accelerated postnatal weight growth in extremely and very preterm infants during early childhood. In addition, no sex differences were observed in postnatal growth.

Poor postnatal weight growth is a late finding after sepsis in very preterm infants

ObjectiveTo characterise the association between sepsis and postnatal weight growth when accounting for the degree of growth restriction present at birth.DesignRetrospective matched cohort study using data from the Postnatal Growth...

Association between Prepregnancy Body Mass Index and Gestational Weight Gain with Size, Tempo, and Velocity of Infant Growth: Analysis of the Newborn Epigenetic Study Cohort.

The first 1000 days of life is a critical period of infant growth that has been linked to future adult health. Understanding prenatal factors that contribute to variation in growth during this period could inform successful prevention strategies. Prenatal and maternal characteristics, including prepregnancy obesity and gestational weight gain were evaluated in relation to weight growth trajectories during the first 24 months of life using the SuperImposition by Translation and Rotation (SITAR) method, which provides estimates of infant size, timing to peak velocity, and growth velocity. The study sample included 704 mother-infant dyads from a multiethnic prebirth cohort from the Southeastern United States. The total number of weight measures was 8670 (median number per child = 14). Several prenatal and maternal characteristics were linked with infant growth parameters. The primary findings show that compared to women with a prepregnancy BMI between 18 and 24.9, women with a prepregnancy BMI ≥40 had infants that were 8% larger during the first 24 months, a delayed tempo of around 9 days, and a slower velocity. Mothers who had greater than adequate gestational weight gain had infants that were 5% larger even after controlling for prepregnancy BMI and several other covariates. The findings contribute new data on the associations between gestational weight gain and aspects of early growth using the SITAR method, and support a growing consensus in the literature that both prepregnancy BMI and gestational weight gain relate independently to risk for greater postnatal weight growth.

Childhood Obesity Risk and Prevention: Shining a Lens on the First 1000 Days.

[Author Affiliation]Elsie M. Taveras. 1 Division of General Academic Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, Massachusetts General Hospital for Children and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA. 2 Department of Nutrition, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA.Address correspondence to: Elsie M. Taveras, MD, MPH, Chief, Division of General Academic Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, Massachusetts General Hospital for Children, 125 Nashua Street, Suite 860, Boston, MA, 02114, E-mail: elsie.taveras@mgh.harvard.eduThe first 1000 days--the period from conception to age 2 years--is increasingly recognized as an important period for the development, and thus prevention, of obesity and its adverse consequences. In recent years, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine1 and the NIH2 have convened multidisciplinary workshops to examine the state of the science and promising solutions to reduce the risk of childhood obesity beginning in early life. Additionally, The World Health Organization's Report of the Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity3 emphasized the important role of the preconception, antenatal, and early childhood periods in prevention of childhood obesity, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation recently published an issue brief on the impact of the first 1000 days on childhood obesity.4 Yet, substantial knowledge gaps remain in the understanding of etiology and plausible behavioral and biological mechanisms of obesity development in early life, and few interventions have been conducted to demonstrate the extent to which prevention in early life has a beneficial effect on infant growth status and obesity-related behaviors.For this theme issue of Childhood Obesity, we asked investigators from a range of disciplines to submit articles that advanced the science of early life obesity risk factors and prevention. Taken together, the articles in this issue begin to narrow the evidence gaps and present emerging and promising methods and approaches to further inform obesity prevention beginning in early life.Claesson and colleagues,5 Fuemmeler and colleagues,6 and Gregory and colleagues7 examined risk factors and interventions in pregnancy. Fuemmeler and colleagues examined associations of maternal prepregnancy obesity and gestational weight gain with infant weight trajectories in the first 24 months of life using the SuperImposition by Translation and Rotation (SITAR) method, which provides estimates of infant size, timing to peak velocity, and growth velocity. Both prepregnancy obesity and greater-than-adequate gestational weight gain were independently associated with risk for greater early postnatal weight growth. These findings suggest that maternal obesity and excessive gestational weight gain may be targets for interventions to prevent child obesity risk. Yet, in two follow-up studies of infants whose mothers participated in interventions to prevent excessive weight gain during pregnancy, Claesson and colleagues and Gregory and colleagues did not find a protective effect of reduced gestational weight gain on offspring BMI. Neither intervention continued to work with the parent-infant dyad in infancy. Previous observational studies that followed offspring of mothers who were participants in interventions targeting gestational weight gain or gestational diabetes, and in which the interventions ceased after birth, have similarly found no spillover effect on childhood obesity.8,9 The studies by Claesson and Gregory suggest the need for risk-reducing interventions to be continued or maintained in infancy once they have begun in the prenatal period in order to influence child obesity risk.Several of the studies in this issue examine risk factors for greater weight-for-length increases in the first year of life10 and at age 6 years11 and with increasing leptin levels from 6 months to 8 years of age. …

Postnatal weight growth and trihalomethane exposure during pregnancy

BackgroundImpaired postnatal growth after chloroform exposure in utero has been observed in rodents without an effect on birth weight. We aimed to study the relationship between exposure to trihalomethanes (THMs) during pregnancy and postnatal weight growth during infancy. MethodsWe analysed 2216 mother–child pairs recruited in Gipuzkoa, Sabadell, Valencia (Spain, INMA Project, enrolment: 2003–2008) and Crete (Greece, RHEA Study, enrolment: 2007–2008). Drinking water habits and water-related activities ascertained through personal interviews were combined with THM measurements in drinking water to estimate THM exposure through different exposure routes during pregnancy. Weight measurements during the first year of life were used to fit postnatal weight growth curves from birth to one year and to predict weight at six months. Multiple linear regression was used to evaluate the relationship between six months weight gain and interquartile range (IQR) increase in THM exposure adjusting for confounders. ResultsAverage weight gain at six months ranged from 4325g (Gipuzkoa) to 4668g (Crete). Median residential THM levels ranged from 1μg/l (Crete) to 117μg/l (Sabadell). No significant association was observed overall (−24.4g [95% CI −78.8, 30.0] for an IQR increase in total residential uptake). A negative relationship was observed in Sabadell (−148g [95% CI −282, −13.7]) for an IQR increase in ingestion THM uptake. ConclusionsNo consistent evidence of an association between THM exposure during pregnancy and postnatal growth was observed. The novelty of the hypothesis and the negative trend observed in the region with the highest levels warrants the replication in future studies.

OC39: Small‐for‐gestational age and fetal growth restricted very low birth weight neonates have different postnatal weight growth curves

OC39: Small‐for‐gestational age and fetal growth restricted very low birth weight neonates have different postnatal weight growth curves