Does vaginal delivery mitigate or strengthen the intergenerational association of overweight and obesity? Findings from the Boston Birth Cohort.

ABSTRACT:

Background/objectives

The intergenerational association of obesity may be driven by mother-to-newborn transmission of microbiota at birth. Yet cesarean delivery circumvents newborn acquisition of vaginal microbiota, and has been associated with greater childhood adiposity. Here we examined the independent and joint associations of maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI; kg m^-2) and delivery mode with childhood overweight or obesity.

Subjects/methods

We prospectively followed 1441 racially and ethnically diverse mother-child dyads in the Boston Birth Cohort until age 5 years (range: 2.0-8.0 years). We used logistic regression to examine the independent and joint associations of delivery mode (cesarean and vaginal delivery) and pre-pregnancy BMI with childhood

SUBMITTER: Mueller NT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5380521 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature