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The prenatal environment can exert important effects on mental health. While much research has linked low birth weight to psychopathology, the intrauterine environment associated with high birth weight (macrosomia; > 4000 g) is also sub-optimal and may increase risk. Given the increasing prevalence of macrosomic births, understanding the mental health outcomes of infants born macrosomic can help refine theories of etiology, predict disorder, and target preventive interventions. Using data from the 2014 Ontario Child Health Study (OCHS), we examined the risk for psychiatric disorders in adolescents born macrosomic. Youth (N = 2151) aged 12–17 years completed the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview for Children and Adolescents (MINI-KID). Rates of common mental disorders assessed by the MINI-KID were compared between those born at normal birth weight (NBW; 2500–4000 g, n = 1817) and adolescents born macrosomic (> 4000 g, n = 334). These associations were then adjusted for participant age, sex, socioeconomic status (SES) of the family, parental mental health, and gestational diabetes mellitus. After adjustment for covariates, adolescents born macrosomic had higher odds of conduct disorder (CD; OR = 3.19, 95% CI: 1.37–7.43), oppositional defiant disorder (ODD; OR = 1.79, 95% CI: 1.11–2.91), and ADHD (OR = 1.77, 95% CI: 1.21–2.80). Moderation analyses revealed that males born macrosomic were more likely to have psychiatric problems than their female peers. Socioeconomic disadvantage also amplified the risk posed by macrosomia for ODD, ADHD, major depressive disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder. In this study, macrosomia was associated with an increased risk of clinically significant externalizing problems in adolescence, most notably among boys and those facing socioeconomic disadvantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Prenatal maternal metabolic problems such as pre-pregnancy adiposity, excess gestational weight gain, and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) are associated with an increased risk of psychopathology in offspring. We examined whether these exposures were linked to symptoms of emotional and behavioral problems in offspring at 2 years of age, or if associations were due to confounding variables. Methods Data from 815 mother–child pairs enrolled at the Edmonton site of the Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development cohort were used to examine associations between gestational metabolic complications and scores on the externalizing and internalizing scales of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL-1½ to 5) at age two. Associations between maternal metabolic complications and offspring psychopathology were assessed before and after adjustment for gestational diet, socioeconomic status (SES), postpartum depression (PPD), prenatal smoking and breastfeeding. Results Pre-pregnancy body mass index and GDM, but not gestational weight gain, predicted more offspring externalizing and internalizing problems. However, after adjustment for confounding variables, these associations were no longer statistically significant. Post-hoc analyses revealed that gestational diet accounted for unique variance in both externalizing (semi-partial rdiet = − 0.20, p < 0.001) and internalizing (semi-partial rdiet = − 0.16, p = 0.01) problems. PPD and SES also accounted for a similar amount of variance for both externalizing (semi-partial rPPD = 0.17, p < 0.001; rses = − 0.11, p = 0.03) and internalizing problems (semi-partial rPPD = 0.21, p < 0.001; rses = − 0.14, p = 0.004). Conclusions for Practice Since the confounding effect of gestational diet persisted after adjustment for, and was similar in magnitude to, SES and PPD, future research should consider the impact of unhealthy prenatal diets on offspring neurodevelopment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]