Gestational weight gain tied to poor cognitive development in children

Gestational weight gain (GWG) and its trajectories influence neurodevelopment in children, reports a study, noting that this modifiable factor can guide early intervention for high-risk mother‒child dyads.

This analysis involved 4,177 mother‒child pairs from the Jiangsu Birth Cohort, assessing GWG both as categories (insufficient/optimal/excessive) and trajectories based on repeated prenatal measurements.

The authors assessed children’s neurodevelopment at 3 years of age using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, Version-III Screening Test. They also explored the relationship of GWG categories and trajectories with neurodevelopment using a robust Poisson regression model.

Children of mothers with excessive GWG showed a 50-percent greater noncompetent cognitive risk (risk ratio [RR], 1.50) than those exposed to optimal GWG. Furthermore, insufficient GWG was associated with a 30-percent higher noncompetent fine motor risk (RR, 1.30).

Notably, the association of insufficient GWG with noncompetent cognitive development only remained significant among children with breastfeeding duration of ≤12 months (RR, 2.07), but not among those breastfed for >12 months (RR, 0.72).

Furthermore, the slow-rapid GWG trajectory correlated with increased risks of both noncompetent cognitive development (RR, 2.51) and expressive communication (RR, 1.94).

“These findings suggest that both GWG and its trajectory are associated with children's neurodevelopment and provide evidence and guidance for pregnancy weight management,” the authors said.