Parental prepregnancy obesity and offspring overweight before two years of age among Chinese women with gestational diabetes.

ABSTRACT

AIMS: To examine the associations of parental obesity prior to pregnancy with offspring overweight before two years of age among children of Chinese women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). METHODS: Offspring of women with GDM (n = 774) who were diagnosed in 2010-2012 were followed up to two years of age in Tianjin, China. Multinomial logistic regression was used to obtain odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of maternal and paternal prepregnancy obesity with offspring overweight at < 1, 1-1.5, and 1.5-2 years of age. RESULTS: Among 774 offspring of women with GDM, 457 (59.0%) of the offspring developed overweight before two years of age. Maternal prepregnancy obesity was associated with increased risk of offspring overweight at 1-1.5 years of age and 1.5-2 years of age (ORs 1.98, 95%CI 1.09-3.59 & 2.14, 1.10-4.15, respectively). Paternal prepregnancy obesity was only associated with elevated risk of offspring overweight at 1.5-2 years of age (1.82, 1.08-3.06). Furthermore, copresence of both maternal and paternal obesity prior to pregnancy had an additive effect on the risk of offspring overweight at 1.5-2 years of age (3.73, 1.50-9.27). CONCLUSIONS: Parental prepregnancy obesity predicted offspring overweight before two years of age among children of Chinese women with GDM.