title: Is gestational weight gain associated with offspring obesity at 36 months?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We examined the association between gestational weight gain (GWG) and offspring obesity at age 36 months.
  
  
  METHODS
  Mother-infant dyads (n = 609) were followed from a first study visit (mean [standard deviation]: 18.8 [2.7] weeks gestation) to 36 months postpartum. Total GWG over the entire pregnancy was defined as excessive or non-excessive according to the 2009 Institute of Medicine guidelines. Four mutually exclusive categories of excessive or non-excessive GWG across early (conception to first study visit) and late (first study visit to delivery) pregnancy defined GWG pattern. Body mass index (BMI) z-scores ≥95th percentile of the 2000 Centers for Disease Control (CDC) references defined offspring obesity at 36 months. Multivariable log-binomial models adjusted for pre-pregnancy BMI and breastfeeding were used to estimate the association between GWG and childhood obesity risk.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Nearly half of the women had total excessive GWG. Of these, 46% gained excessively during both early and late pregnancy while 22% gained excessively early and non-excessively late, and the remaining 32% gained non-excess weight early and excessively later. Thirteen per cent of all children were obese at 36 months. Excessive total GWG was associated with more than twice the risk of child obesity (adjusted risk ratio [95% confidence interval]: 2.20 [1.35, 3.61]) compared with overall non-excessive GWG. Compared with a pattern of non-excessive GWG in both early and late pregnancy, excessive GWG in both periods was associated with an increased risk of obesity (2.39 [1.13, 5.08]).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Excessive GWG is a potentially modifiable factor that may influence obesity development in early childhood.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Diesel
authors.affiliation: School of Community Health, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, USA.
authors.forename: C L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Eckhardt
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.|Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
authors.forename: N L
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Day
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Brooks
authors.affiliation: Division of Weight Management and Wellness, Division of Pediatric Endocrinology, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Arslanian
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.|Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.|Magee-Women's Research Institute, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Bodnar
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D015201:Meta-Analysis as Topic; D009035:Mothers; D016017:Odds Ratio; D063766:Pediatric Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D015430:Weight Gain
keywords: Paediatric obesity; pre-natal exposure delayed effects; pregnancy trimesters; weight gain