Authors: Jennifer S Huang Tiffany A Lee Michael C Lu
Publish Date: 2006/09/28
Volume: 11, Issue: 5, Pages: 461-473
Abstract
Methods A systematic review of observational studies examining the relationship between prenatal exposures and childhood overweight and obesity was conducted using MOOSE guidelines The review included literature posted on PubMed and MDConsult and published between January 1975 and December 2005 Prenatal exposures to maternal diabetes malnutrition and cigarette smoking were examined and primary study outcome was childhood overweight or obesity as measured by body mass index BMI for children ages 5 to 21Results Four of six included studies of prenatal exposure to maternal diabetes found higher prevalence of childhood overweight or obesity among offspring of diabetic mothers with the highest quality study reporting an odds ratio of adolescent overweight of 14 95 CI 10–19 The Dutch famine study found that exposure to maternal malnutrition in early but not late gestation was associated with increased odds of childhood obesity OR 19 95 CI 15–24 All eight included studies of prenatal exposure to maternal smoking showed significantly increased odds of childhood overweight and obesity with most odds ratios clustering around 15 to 20 The biological mechanisms mediating these relationships are unknown but may be partially related to programming of insulin leptin and glucocorticoid resistance in utero
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