Maternal Education in Early Life and Risk of Metabolic Syndrome in Young Adult American Females and Males: Disentangling Life Course Processes Through Causal Models.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Maternal education in a child's early life may directly affect the child's adult cardiometabolic health, but this is difficult to disentangle from biological, social, and behavioral life course processes that are associated with maternal education. These processes may also differ between males and females. METHODS: Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (1995-2009) (N = 4,026 females and 3,192 males), we estimated sex-stratified associations between maternal attainment of less than high school (high school diploma (HS), or college degree (CD) at the respondent's birth and respondent's risk of metabolic syndrome (MetS); we used marginal structural models (MSM) to account for the influence of major life course risk factors, such as childhood maltreatment, adolescent overweight, adult education, household income, smoking, and physical activity, in mediating associations between maternal education and offspring MetS risk.

RESULTS:

Each higher level of maternal education was associated with a 36% (Relative Risk = 0.64 [95% Confidence Interval (CI) 0.50-0.82]) reduced risk of MetS among females, but only 19% (RR = 0.81 [95% CI 0.64-1.01]) reduction among males (P-value interaction < 0.05). Stronger inverse associations were also observed for waist circumference and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) among females compared with males (-5 cm vs. -2.4 cm and -1.5% vs. -1.0%, respectively).

CONCLUSION:

High maternal education in early life was associated with a lower risk of MetS in young adulthood even after accounting for life course risk factors, particularly among females. Results were robust to altered model specifications.