Maternal Prepregnancy BMI and Glucose Level at 24–28 Gestational Weeks on Offspring’s Overweight Status within 3 Years of Age

Abstract

Objective. To examine the relative impact of maternal prepregnancy body mass index (BMI) and glucose level at 24–28 gestational weeks on offspring’s overweight status from birth to 3 years of age in China.Methods. Health care records of 21,354 mother-child pairs were collected. The single and joint associations of maternal prepregnancy BMI and glucose level at 24–28 gestational weeks with 0–3-year-old offspring’s overweight status were assessed.Results. The odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) of offspring’s macrosomia at birth and overweight/obesity at the 12th month, 24th month, and 36th month were 1.12 (1.11–1.13), 1.05 (1.04–1.06), 1.07 (1.06–1.08), and 1.11 (1.10–1.12) for each 1-unit increase (km/m2) in maternal prepregnancy BMI and 1.13 (1.10–1.17), 1.01 (0.99–1.03), 0.99 (0.96–1.01), and 1.00 (0.97–1.02) for each 1-unit increase (mmol/L) in maternal glucose level at 24–28 gestational weeks, respectively. The positive association of maternal glucose level with macrosomia at birth was similar between prepregnancy normal weight (BMI < 24 kg/m2) and overweight (BMI ≥ 24 kg/m2); however, the positive association of high maternal glucose level with childhood overweight was only seen among prepregnancy normal weight mothers but not among overweight mothers.Conclusions. The impact of maternal gestational hyperglycemia on offspring’s overweight before 3 years of age can be modified by prepregnancy BMI.