The Intergenerational Cycle of Obesity and Its Implications for Nursing Care of Childbearing Women.
Despite intensive focus and interventions at societal and individual levels, more than a third of people in the United States are overweight or obese, and childhood/adolescent obesity rates have dramatically increased during the past three decades. Biomedical research has shown a clear link between the prenatal environment and lifetime adiposity. Children born to overweight and obese women with impaired glucose metabolism show cardiometabolic consequences throughout their life spans that, in turn, affect their children's adiposity. Awareness of this intergenerational cycle of obesity can prompt nurses to intervene in the preconception, prenatal, and postnatal phases.
College of Nursing at Villanova University in Villanova, PA.. Electronic address: mpurnell@villanova.edu.
Molly C
MC
Purnell
College of Nursing at Villanova University in Villanova, PA.
Meredith A
MA
MacKenzie
D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000378:metabolism; D001942:Breast Feeding; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D004032:Diet / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000451:nursing / Q000592:standards; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D047109:Fetal Development; D018149:Glucose Intolerance / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D006801:Humans; D009736:Nursing Process; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics / Q000451:nursing; D063766:Pediatric Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics / Q000517:prevention & control; D011181:Postnatal Care / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D016742:Preconception Care / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011295:Prenatal Care / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D039401:Prenatal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D015995:Prevalence
fetal development; intergenerational cycle of obesity; maternal obesity; obesogenic phenotype