Parental pre-pregnancy BMI influences on offspring BMI and waist circumference at 21 years

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the prospective association between parental pre-pregnancy BMI and adult male and female offspring BMI and waist circumference (WC).

METHODS: Sub-sample of 2,229 parent-offspring pairs with parental pre-pregnancy BMI and offspring BMI and WC at 21 years were used from the MUSP (Mater-University of Queensland Study of Pregnancy cohort). Multivariable results were adjusted for maternal factors around pregnancy (e.g. gestational weight and smoking during pregnancy) and offspring factors in early life (e.g. birth weight) and at 14 years (e.g. sports participation and mealtime with family).

RESULTS: After adjustments for confounders, each unit increase in paternal and maternal BMI, the BMI of young adult offspring increased by 0.33kg/m(2) and 0.35kg/m(2) , and the WC increased by 0.76 cm and 0.62 cm, respectively. In the combination of parents' weight status, offspring at 21 years were six times the risk being overweight/obese (OW/OB) when both parents were OW/OB, compared to offspring of healthy weight parents.

CONCLUSIONS: Prenatal parental BMI are independently related to adult offspring BMI and WC.

IMPLICATIONS: Both prenatal paternal-maternal weight status are important determinants of offspring weight status in long-term. Further studies are warranted to investigate the underlying mechanisms.