title: The relationship between maternal and offspring birth weights after maternal prenatal famine exposure: the Dutch Famine Birth Cohort Study.
abstract: We examined the impact of famine-induced changes in maternal birth weight (MBW) on the association between MBW and offspring birth weight (OBW). Women born before, during, and after the Dutch Famine of 1944-1945 were interviewed at ages 41 to 46 years. Women (n = 582) and their children (n = 1,111) were included in the analysis if both mother and child were singleton and the child was not delivered preterm. Mean birth weight (BW) of women with first-trimester exposure (n = 110) was 154 g higher (p = 0.008), and mean BW of women with third-trimester exposure (n = 138) was 251 g lower (p < 0.001) than mean BW of unexposed women (n = 302). First-born offspring of women with first-trimester exposure were 72 g heavier (95% confidence interval [CI], -57 to 201; p = 0.27), and offspring of women with third-trimester exposure were 43 g lighter (95% CI, -170 to 79; p = 0.47) than offspring of unexposed women. Among unexposed women, each 100 g increase in MBW was associated with 25 g (95% CI, 12 to 37) increase in OBW (adjusted for maternal age, smoking, weight, and height and offspring sex). This association was attenuated in famine-exposed women (first-trimester change in OBW = 20 g per 100 g MBW; 95% CI, -1 to 41; third-trimester change in OBW = 14 g per 100 g MBW; 95% CI, -9 to 37). When MBW and trimester of maternal famine exposure were considered in a joint model, there was no independent effect of trimester of maternal famine exposure on OBW. Associations were less consistent for later-born offspring. We conclude that maternal prenatal famine exposure does not affect the association between maternal and offspring BW. Trimester of exposure was not a determinant of OBW, other than through its effect on MBW. Nevertheless, acute famine may impact on second-generation BW distributions indirectly, through its effect on the distribution of MBW.
authors.affiliation: Department of International Health, Rollins School of Public Health of Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Stein
authors.forename: L H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Lumey
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D001724:Birth Weight; D001827:Body Height; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008423:Maternal Age; D008875:Middle Aged; D009035:Mothers; D009426:Netherlands; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D011247:Pregnancy; D011261:Pregnancy Trimester, First; D011263:Pregnancy Trimester, Third; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects; D013217:Starvation / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires