1. Maternal body mass index in pregnancy and mental disorders in adult offspring: a record linkage study in Aberdeen, Scotland.
- Author
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Lahti-Pulkkinen M, Räikkönen K, Bhattacharya S, and Reynolds RM
- Subjects
- Adult, Body Mass Index, Female, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Neurodevelopmental Disorders etiology, Neurodevelopmental Disorders psychology, Obesity complications, Obesity physiopathology, Overweight complications, Overweight physiopathology, Pregnancy, Pregnancy Complications etiology, Pregnancy Complications psychology, Risk Factors, Scotland, Thinness complications, Adult Children psychology, Birth Weight physiology, Mental Disorders etiology, Mental Disorders psychology, Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects etiology, Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects psychology
- Abstract
Maternal obesity in pregnancy predicts offspring psychopathology risk in childhood but it remains unclear whether maternal obesity or underweight associate with adult offspring mental disorders. We examined longitudinally whether maternal body mass index (BMI) in pregnancy predicted mental disorders in her offspring and whether the associations differed by offspring birth year among 68,571 mother-child dyads of Aberdeen Maternity and Neonatal Databank, Scotland. The offspring were born 1950-1999. Maternal BMI was measured at a mean 15.7 gestational weeks and classified into underweight, normal weight, overweight, moderate obesity and severe obesity. Mental disorders were identified from nationwide registers carrying diagnoses of all hospitalizations and deaths in Scotland in 1996-2017. We found that maternal BMI in pregnancy was associated with offspring mental disorders in a time-dependent manner: In offspring born 1950-1974, maternal underweight predicted an increased hazard of mental disorders [Hazard Ratio (HR) = 1.74; 95% Confidence Interval (CI) = 1.01-3.00)]. In offspring born 1975-1999, maternal severe obesity predicted increased hazards of any mental (HR 1.60; 95% CI 1.08-2.38) substance use (HR 1.91; 95% CI 1.03-3.57) and schizophrenia spectrum (HR 2.80; 95% CI 1.40-5.63) disorders. Our findings of time-specific associations between maternal prenatal BMI and adult offspring mental disorders may carry important public health implications by underlining possible lifelong effects of maternal BMI on offspring psychopathology., (© 2021. The Author(s).)
- Published
- 2021
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