Parental characteristics as predictors of birthweight.
BACKGROUND
Previous studies provided conflicting results on the relevance of parental characteristics for offspring's size at birth. The objective of this study was to investigate parental predictors of birthweight.


METHODS
In this cross-sectional study, 34,063 women in the Nurses' Mother's Cohort were queried about parental characteristics during the pregnancy with and birthweight of their nurse daughter.


RESULTS
The predictive linear regression model of birthweight included 13 factors and the majority of the predictive power came from parental anthropometric factors. In the adjusted analysis, daily consumption of each additional glass of milk was associated with an increase of approximately 6 g in birthweight (P for trend = 0.01) and daily consumption of each additional cup of coffee was associated with a decrease of approximately 10 g in birthweight (P for trend < 0.0001). Drinking 1-2, 3-4 and 5+ cups of coffee daily was associated with a 28% [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.12, 0.47], 30% (95% CI 0.10, 0.55) and 63% (95% CI 0.25, 1.12) increase, respectively, in the odds of intrauterine growth restriction when compared with non-drinkers.


CONCLUSIONS
The present study confirmed several previously reported determinants of birthweight. Maternal dietary intake of milk and coffee during pregnancy may influence fetal growth.
Xue
Fei
F
Obstetrics and Gynecology Epidemiology Center, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 221 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA. n2fei@channing.harvard.edu
Willett
Walter C
WC
Rosner
Bernard A
BA
Forman
Michele R
MR
Michels
Karin B
KB
D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D000886:Anthropometry; D001724:Birth Weight; D001827:Body Height; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003069:Coffee; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004326:Drinking; D005260:Female; D005317:Fetal Growth Retardation / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008892:Milk; D009035:Mothers; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011247:Pregnancy; D012907:Smoking
D003069:Coffee