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Maternal Childhood Adversity, Prepregnancy Obesity, and Gestational Weight Gain
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Maternal Childhood Adversity, Prepregnancy Obesity, and Gestational Weight Gain

Yamini K Ranchod, Irene E Headen, Lucia C Petito, Julianna K Deardorff, David H Rehkopf and Barbara F Abrams
American journal of preventive medicine, v 50(4), pp 463-469
Apr 2016
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2015.08.032
PMID: 26558699
Featured in Collection :   UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
url
https://europepmc.org/articles/pmc4801674View
Accepted (AM)Open Access (License Unspecified),  Open

Abstract

Adolescent Adult Survivors of Child Abuse - statistics & numerical data Adult Survivors of Child Adverse Events - statistics & numerical data Alcoholism - epidemiology Female Humans Longitudinal Studies Mental Disorders - epidemiology Obesity - epidemiology Pregnancy Risk Factors Surveys and Questionnaires Weight Gain - physiology Young Adult
Growing evidence suggests that exposure to childhood adversity may influence obesity across the life course. High maternal weight complicates pregnancy and increases the risk of child obesity. This study examined the association between maternal childhood adversity and pregnancy-related weight in a large U.S. Data on 6,199 pregnancies from 2,873 women followed from 1979 to 2012 by the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 were analyzed in 2014. Associations between three adversity exposures before age 18 years (history of physical abuse, alcohol problems, or mental illness in the household) and two maternal weight outcomes (prepregnancy obesity and excessive gestational weight gain) were modeled separately using survey-adjusted log-binomial models. After adjusting for race/ethnicity and early-life socioeconomic factors, childhood physical abuse was associated with a 60% increase in the risk of prepregnancy obesity (adjusted risk ratio=1.6, 95% CI=1.1, 2.2). Household alcohol abuse was associated with a 30% increase in prepregnancy obesity (adjusted risk ratio=1.3, 95% CI=1.0, 1.7), as was household mental illness (adjusted risk ratio=1.3, 95% CI=0.8, 1.9), but the mental illness exposure was not significant. Physical abuse and household alcohol abuse were associated with a significant 20% increase in the risk of excessive gestational weight gain; mental illness was not. Adversity in early life may affect maternal weight before and during pregnancy. Screening and treating women of reproductive age for childhood adversity and its negative effects could significantly reduce obesity-related health outcomes for women and their children.

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6 Record Views
27 citations in Web of Science
28 citations in Scopus

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UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#3 Good Health and Well-Being
#5 Gender Equality

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
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