title: Gestational Weight Gain and Overweight in Children Aged 3-6 Years.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether gestational weight gain (GWG) was associated with increased odds of childhood overweight after accounting for pre-pregnancy BMI.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a prospective cohort study based on a premarital and perinatal health care system in China, data of 100 612 mother-child pairs were obtained. The main exposure was GWG as both a continuous and categorical variable. The outcome measure was overweight, defined by age- and sex-specific cutoff values for body mass index (BMI) in children aged 3-6 years.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A 1-kg increase in maternal GWG was associated with an increase of 0.009 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.007-0.010, P < 0.001) in children's mean BMI; in the subgroup of pre-pregnancy overweight/obese mothers, the increase in children's BMI was 0.028 (95% CI, 0.017-0.039, P < 0.001). Excessive GWG played an important role in childhood overweight when adequate GWG was used as the reference, with an odds ratio (OR) of 1.21 (95% CI, 1.12-1.29). The risk was highest (OR 2.22; 95% CI, 1.79-2.76) in the children of mothers who were overweight/obese before pregnancy and gained excessive weight during pregnancy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Greater maternal GWG was associated with greater offspring BMI, and the risk of overweight was doubled in children whose mothers were overweight/obese before pregnancy and gained excessive weight during pregnancy. As a result, maintenance of appropriate weight gain during pregnancy and prophylaxis of maternal overweight/obesity before pregnancy should be a strategy for preventing childhood overweight/obesity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Toxicology, School of Public Health, Central South University.
authors.forename: Lianhong
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Jufen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Rongwei
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.forename: Jianmeng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Zhixiong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhuang
authors.forename: Aiguo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ren
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011446:Prospective Studies; D015430:Weight Gain; D055815:Young Adult