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Objective: To examine the associations of abnormal maternal glucose regulation in pregnancy with offspring adiposity, insulin resistance, adipokine, and inflammatory markers during childhood and adolescence., Study Design: Project Viva is a prospective prebirth cohort (n = 2128 live births) initiated from 1999 through 2002 in Eastern Massachusetts, US. During the second trimester of pregnancy, clinicians used 2-step oral glucose challenge testing to screen for gestational diabetes mellitus. In the offspring, we measured anthropometry, insulin resistance, adipokines, lipids, and inflammatory markers in mid-childhood (n = 1107), early adolescence (n = 1027), and mid-adolescence (n = 693). We used multivariable linear regression models and generalized estimating equations adjusted for child age and sex, and for maternal age, race/ethnicity, education, parity, and smoking during pregnancy; we further adjusted for prepregnancy body mass index (BMI)., Results: In mid-adolescence (17.1 [0.8] years of age), offspring of mothers with gestational diabetes mellitus (n = 27) had a higher BMI z-score (β; 95% Cl; 0.41 SD; 0.00, 0.82), sum of skinfolds (8.15 mm; 2.48, 13.82), homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance (0.81 units; 0.13, 1.50), leptin z-score (0.40 SD; 0.01, 0.78), and leptin/adiponectin ratio z-score (0.51 SD; CI 0.09, 0.93) compared with offspring of mothers with normoglycemia (multivariable-adjusted models). The associations with BMI, homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance, and adiponectin seemed stronger in mid-adolescence compared with earlier time points. The associations were attenuated toward the null after adjustment for maternal prepregnancy BMI., Conclusion: Exposure to gestational diabetes mellitus is associated with higher adiposity, insulin resistance, and altered adipokines in mid-adolescence. Our findings suggest that the peripubertal period could be a key time for the emergence of prenatally programmed metabolic abnormalities., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest Authors have no conflict of interest to disclose. SC was supported by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (T32, DK007028-46). SHL was supported by the American Diabetes Association (7-23-PDFT2DY-3) and Thomas O. Pyle Fellowship Award (Harvard Medical School Department of Population of Medicine). IA was supported by the American Heart Association (23CDA1050962); and the National Institutes of Health (5U54 AG062322-04, 1UG3 OD035533-01, 2R01 ES013744-16A1). This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (R01HD034568)., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To evaluate the relative importance of overall and period-specific postnatal growth and their interaction with fetal growth on cognition in a generally well-nourished population., Study Design: We included 1052 children from Project Viva, a prospective cohort in Boston, Massachusetts. Using linear spline mixed-effects models, we modeled length/height and body mass index (BMI) trajectories from birth to 7 years and estimated standardized overall (0-7 years) and period-specific growth velocities ie, early infancy (0-4 months), late infancy (4-15 months), toddlerhood (15-37 months), and early childhood (37-84 months). We investigated associations of growth velocities as well as their interactions with birthweight-for-gestational age on mid-childhood (mean age: 7.9 years) IQ, visual memory and learning, and visual motor ability., Results: Greater overall height velocity was associated with modestly higher design memory score, (adjusted β [95% CI] 0.19 [-0.01,0.38] P = .057])points per SD increase but lower verbal IQ (-0.88 [-1.76,0.00] P = .051). Greater early infancy height velocity was associated with higher visual motor score (1.92 [0.67,3.18]). Greater overall BMI velocity was associated with lower verbal IQ (-0.71 [-1.52,0.11] P = .090). Greater late infancy BMI velocity was associated with lower verbal IQ (-1.21 [-2.07,-0.34]), design memory score (-0.22 [-0.42,-0.03)], but higher picture memory score (0.22 [0.01,0.43]). Greater early infancy height velocity (-1.5 SD vs 1.5 SD) was associated with higher nonverbal IQ (margins [95% CI] 102.6 [98.9106.3] vs 108.2 [104.9111.6]) among small-for-gestational age infants (P-interaction = 0.04)., Conclusions: Among generally well-nourished children, there might not be clear cognitive gains with faster linear growth except for those with lower birthweight-for-gestational age, revealing the potential importance of early infancy compensatory growth., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The Project Viva study is supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health [R01 HD 034568, R24 ES030894 and UH3 OD023286]. YYO is supported by the National University of Singapore Overseas Postdoctoral Fellowship (NUSOPF/2022). The funding sources had no role in the study design and conduct, data analysis, or manuscript preparation. All authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To examine prospectively associations of neighborhood opportunity with the presence of dampness or pests in the home environment during early adolescence., Study Design: We geocoded residential addresses from 831 children (mean age 7.9 years, 2007-2011) in the Project Viva cohort. We linked each address with census tract-level Child Opportunity Index scores, which capture neighborhood conditions and resources influencing child heath including educational, health, environmental, and socioeconomic factors. Our primary outcome was presence of dampness or pests in the home in early adolescence (mean age 13.2 years, 2013-2016). Secondary outcomes included current asthma and lung function testing results. Mixed-effects regression models estimated longitudinal associations of Child Opportunity Index scores with outcomes, adjusting for individual and family sociodemographics., Results: Children residing in neighborhoods with greater overall opportunity were less likely to live in homes with dampness or pests approximately 5 years later (aOR 0.85 per 20-unit increase in Child Opportunity Index percentile rank, 95% CI 0.73-0.998). We observed no significant associations in adjusted models of overall neighborhood opportunity with current asthma or lung function. Lower school poverty or single-parent households and greater access to healthy food or economic resource index were associated with lower odds of a home environment with dampness or pests., Conclusions: More favorable neighborhood conditions in mid-childhood were associated with lower likelihood of living in a home with dampness or pests in the early adolescence., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest Project Viva is supported by Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) R01HD034568 and National Institutes of Health (NIH) UH3OD023286. P.J. is supported by National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) R01HL150119. D.G. is supported by National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) P30ES000002. The other authors declare no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To investigate the association of preconception parental obesity (body mass index [BMI] ≥30 kg/m 2 ) with offspring pubertal development., Study Design: Among 1377 children from a prospective prebirth cohort in Boston, we examined markers of puberty (age at peak height velocity [PHV], age at menarche, self-reported pubertal development score), and adrenarche (pictograph Tanner pubic hair staging). We used multivariable regression models to examine associations of maternal and paternal obesity with offspring pubertal indices, and applied marginal structural models to estimate the controlled direct effect not mediated by offspring prepubertal BMI., Results: The prevalence of paternal obesity alone, maternal obesity alone, and biparental obesity were 10.5%, 10.1%, and 5%, respectively. After adjusting for demographic and socioeconomic factors, parental heights and maternal age at menarche, maternal obesity alone (vs neither parent with obesity) was associated with earlier age at PHV (β -0.30 years; 95% CI -0.57, -0.03) and higher early adolescent pubertal score (0.29 units; 0.10, 0.48) in boys, but not with pubertal or adrenarchal outcomes in girls. Paternal obesity alone was not associated with any outcomes in either boys or girls. Biparental obesity was associated with earlier age at PHV in boys and earlier menarche in girls. Using marginal structural models with stabilized inverse probability weighting, maternal obesity alone had significant controlled direct effects on age at PHV (-0.31 years; -0.62, 0.00) and on pubertal score (0.22 units; 0.00, 0.44) in boys, independent of prepubertal BMI., Conclusion: Maternal, but not paternal, obesity is associated with earlier pubertal development in boys, and such association is independent of prepubertal BMI., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To assess associations of pre-, perinatal, and parental factors with age and magnitude at body mass index (BMI) peak and rebound., Study Design: Among 1681 children with BMI data from birth to mid-childhood in Project Viva, we fitted individual BMI trajectories using mixed-effect models with natural cubic spline functions and estimated age and magnitude at peak in infancy and rebound in early childhood. We used stepwise multivariable regression to identify predictors of peak and rebound in the 1354 (63.6%) children with estimable trajectory milestones., Results: The mean (SD) of age at BMI peak was 8.4 (2.7) months and at rebound was 59.8 (19.6) months, and the mean (SD) of magnitude at peak was 18.0 (1.4) kg/m 2 and at rebound was 15.9 (1.2) kg/m 2 . Girls had a later age at peak, earlier age at rebound, and lower magnitudes at peak and rebound than boys. Maternal isolated hyperglycemia (vs normoglycemia: β 0.7 months [95% CI 0.2-1.2]) and pre-eclampsia (vs normal blood pressure: 1.6 months [0.8-2.4]) were associated with a later peak, and impaired glucose tolerance (vs normoglycemia: -0.5 kg/m 2 [-0.9, -0.1]) was associated with a lower magnitude at peak. Greater maternal first-trimester weight gain, smoking during pregnancy, no breastfeeding, parental obesity, and no university education were associated with greater BMI at rebound., Conclusions: We have identified modifiable prenatal and parental predictors of BMI peak in infancy and rebound in childhood. Early-life interventions that address these factors may be effective in changing BMI peak and rebound and potentially preventing later obesity., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)