Gestational glucose intolerance may raise obesity risk in childhood

Older children and adolescents with exposure to gestational glucose intolerance (GGI)-1 (abnormal value) and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in utero tend to be at greater risk of obesity than those born to normal glucose tolerance (NGT) pregnancies, reports a study, which also accounted for maternal BMI.

A total of 27,876 children and adolescents from 23,334 (83.7 percent) NGT pregnancies, 3,413 (12.2 percent) GGI pregnancies, and 1,129 (4.1 percent) GDM pregnancies were included in this analysis.

Obesity prevalence stood at 13.5 percent at age 2‒5 years, 20.3 percent at age 6‒10 years, and 23.4 percent at age 11‒18 years. Children and adolescents exposed to GGI-1 and GDM were more likely to develop obesity than those born to NGT pregnancies.

Adjusting for maternal BMI weakened this association in all age and glycaemic exposure groups. However, the risk of obesity persisted among 6- to 10-year-olds exposed to GDM (odds ratio [OR], 1.21, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.01‒1.46) and 11- to 18-year-olds exposed to GGI-1 and GDM (GGI-1: OR, 1.44, 95 percent CI, 1.14‒1.81; GDM: OR, 1.28, 95 percent CI, 1.03‒1.59).

In this retrospective cohort study, the authors estimated ORs for obesity in each glycaemic category compared with NGT using generalized estimating equations for logistic regression. Adjustments were made for maternal age, parity, insurance, race/ethnicity, marital status, infant sex, gestational age, and gestational weight gain. A second model also adjusted for maternal first-trimester BMI.