Effect of maternal glycemia on childhood obesity and metabolic dysfunction

In a study to be presented on Feb. 5 in an oral concurrent session at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting, in San Diego, researchers will report on the impact of maternal glycemia on childhood obesity and metabolic dysfunction.

The study, titled The Effect of Maternal Glycemia on Childhood Obesity and Metabolic Dysfunction was a secondary analysis of a mild gestational diabetes mellitus treatment trial long-term follow-up study which looked at the relationship between maternal oral glucose tolerance testing and childhood body mass index, fasting glucose, insulin and anthropometrics in the offspring of untreated mild GDM and non GDM assessed at ages five to 10 years. The study analyzed 236 offspring with untreated mild gestational diabetes mellitus and 481 non GDM. The conclusion was that maternal glycemia is associated with some childhood anthropometric measures of obesity but not with subsequent body mass index, fasting glucose or insulin resistance. However, maternal obesity and Hispanic ethnicity were found to be most associated with childhood obesity and metabolic dysfunction.

"We have known for some time that maternal glycemia has a direct impact on neonatal obesity. This analysis confirms that maternal obesity is far more significant as a risk for childhood obesity than are mild elevations of glucose levels during pregnancy.," stated Mark B. Landon, M.D. with the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Maternal-Fetal Medicine Units Network in Bethesda, Md. "This research further suggests that efforts to reduce obesity prior to pregnancy should be emphasized in clinical practice."