There are a plethora of established studies that have established the link between obesity and cardiovascular disease (CVD). But the effects of maternal obesity on the cardiovascular health of offspring are not clear. The objective of this study is to evaluate the associations between maternal obesity and the risk of CVD in offspring.
This is a population-based cohort study based on the live singleton births data as per the Swedish Medical Birth Register. The study included a total of 2,230,115 live singleton infants born to obese women, as per the BMI calculations in early pregnancy. The primary outcome of the study was the risk of CVD in children born to obese mothers.
A total of 1,741 (0.08%) offspring were diagnosed with a CVD between ages 1 and 25. When compared to the offspring of mothers with normal BMI, the hazard ratio (HR) for obese and overweight women ranged from 1.10 to 2.51. The risk of cerebrovascular disease also increased with maternal obesity. The sibling-cohort analysis also indicated a positive association between maternal obesity and CVD in offspring.
The research concluded that maternal obesity might be a significant risk factor for cardiovascular diseases in offspring, especially during childhood and early adulthood.
Ref: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/landia/article/PIIS2213-8587(20)30151-0/fulltext
