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Gestational Diabetes and Subsequent Growth Patterns of Offspring: The National Collaborative Perinatal Project

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An Erratum to this article was published on 10 November 2011

Abstract

Our objective was to test the hypothesis that intrauterine exposure to gestational diabetes [GDM] predicts childhood growth independent of the effect on infant birthweight. We conducted a prospective analysis of 28,358 mother-infant pairs who enrolled in the National Collaborative Perinatal Project between 1959 and 1965. The offspring were followed until age 7. Four hundred and eighty-four mothers (1.7%) had GDM. The mean birthweight was 3.2 kg (range 1.1–5.6 kg). Maternal characteristics (age, education, race, family income, pre-pregnancy body mass index and pregnancy weight gain) and measures of childhood growth (birthweight, weight at ages 4, and 7) differed significantly by GDM status (all P < 0.05). As expected, compared to their non-diabetic counterparts, mothers with GDM gave birth to offspring that had higher weights at birth. The offspring of mothers with GDM were larger at age 7 as indicated by greater weight, BMI and BMI z-score compared to the offspring of mothers without GDM at that age (all P < 0.05). These differences at age 7 persisted even after adjustment for infant birthweight. Furthermore, the offspring of mothers with GDM had a 61% higher odds of being overweight at age 7 compared to the offspring of mothers without GDM after adjustment for maternal BMI, pregnancy weight gain, family income, race and birthweight [OR = 1.61 (95%CI:1.07, 1.28)]. Our results indicate that maternal GDM status is associated with offspring overweight status during childhood. This relationship is only partially mediated by effects on birthweight.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are supported by the National Institutes of Health. KBR received support from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (T32-HL07024). WKN received support from the National Institute for Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (K23-DK067944), NW received support by National Institutes of Health (UL1 RR025005) & (P60 DK79637), FLB is supported by the National Institute for Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (K24-DK6222) & (P60 DK79637).

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Correspondence to Kesha Baptiste-Roberts.

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An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10995-011-0903-9

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Baptiste-Roberts, K., Nicholson, W.K., Wang, NY. et al. Gestational Diabetes and Subsequent Growth Patterns of Offspring: The National Collaborative Perinatal Project. Matern Child Health J 16, 125–132 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-011-0756-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-011-0756-2

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