Weight gain in different periods of pregnancy and offspring's body mass index at 7 years of age.
OBJECTIVE
We investigated how average weekly gestational weight gain rates during three periods of pregnancy were related to the offspring's body mass index (BMI) at 7 years of age.


METHODS
We used data from the Danish National Birth Cohort. Information from pregnancy interviews conducted between week 12-20 (Interview 1) and week 25-32 (Interview 2) was used to calculate maternal weight gain in the following periods: up until Interview 1; between Interview 1 and 2; from Interview 2 until delivery. Life Course Path Analyses were used to obtain effect estimates of the rates of gain on the offspring's BMI.


RESULTS
Average weekly gestational weight gain rates in first and second period of pregnancy were significantly associated with the child's BMI (ß-coefficient (95% CI): 0.049 z-score/z-score (0.030, 0.067), and 0.059 z-score/z-score (0.041, 0.077), respectively). No significant association between weight gain in the third period and the child's BMI was found (ß-coefficient (95% CI): 0.016 z-score/z-score (-0.002, 0.034)). The total effect estimate from the third period was furthermore significantly lower than the effect estimates from the first and second period (p < 0.03 and p < 0.002, respectively).


CONCLUSIONS
Gestational weight gain in first and second, but not in the last period of pregnancy were positively associated with the offspring's BMI at 7 years of age, even though the estimates were small. Fetal environmental factors may influence the unborn child differently depending on timing of exposure. Therefore, it may be important to consider the different fetal developmental stages when linking early life experiences with later health.
Andersen
Camilla Schou
CS
Institute of Preventive Medicine, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark. csl@ipm.regionh.dk
Gamborg
Michael
M
Sørensen
Thorkild I A
TI
Nohr
Ellen Aagaard
EA
D000367:Age Factors; D000375:Aging; D015992:Body Mass Index; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D050177:Overweight / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D011247:Pregnancy; D011264:Pregnancy Trimesters; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D039401:Prenatal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D012044:Regression Analysis; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D015430:Weight Gain