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Pediatrics

Maternal prepregnancy body mass index and offspring white matter microstructure: results from three birth cohorts

International Journal of Obesity volume 43, pages 1995–2006 (2019)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background and aims

Prepregnancy maternal obesity is a global health problem and has been associated with offspring metabolic and mental ill-health. However, there is a knowledge gap in understanding potential neurobiological factors related to these associations. This study explored the relation between maternal prepregnancy body mass index (BMI) and offspring brain white matter microstructure at the age of 6, 10, and 26 years in three independent cohorts.

Subjects and methods

The study used data from three European birth cohorts (n = 116 children aged 6 years, n = 2466 children aged 10 years, and n = 437 young adults aged 26 years). Information on maternal prepregnancy BMI was obtained before or during pregnancy and offspring brain white matter microstructure was measured at age 6, 10, or 26 years. We used magnetic resonance imaging-derived fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) as measures of white matter microstructure in the brainstem, callosal, limbic, association, and projection tracts. Linear regressions were fitted to examine the association of maternal BMI and offspring white matter microstructure, adjusting for several socioeconomic and lifestyle-related confounders, including education, smoking, and alcohol use.

Results

Maternal BMI was associated with higher FA and lower MD in multiple brain tracts, for example, association and projection fibers, in offspring aged 10 and 26 years, but not at 6 years. In each cohort maternal BMI was related to different white matter tract and thus no common associations across the cohorts were found.

Conclusions

Maternal BMI was associated with higher FA and lower MD in multiple brain tracts in offspring aged 10 and 26 years, but not at 6 years of age. Future studies should examine whether our observations can be replicated and explore the potential causal nature of the findings.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program [grant agreement no. 633595 DynaHEALTH] and no. 733206 LifeCycle], the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development [ZONMW Vici project 016.VICI.170.200]. The PREOBE cohort was funded by Spanish Ministry of Innovation and Science. Junta de Andalucía: Excellence Projects (P06-CTS-02341) and Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (BFU2012-40254-C03-01). The first phase of the Generation R Study is made possible by financial support from the Erasmus Medical Centre, the Erasmus University, and the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMW, grant ZonMW Geestkracht 10.000.1003). The Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 is funded by University of Oulu, University Hospital of Oulu, Academy of Finland (EGEA), Sigrid Juselius Foundation, European Commission (EURO-BLCS, Framework 5 award QLG1-CT-2000-01643), NIH/NIMH (5R01MH63706:02)

Author information

Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Juan Verdejo-Román, Lassi Björnholm

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mind, Brain and Behavior Research Center (CIMCYC), University of Granada, Granada, Spain

    Juan Verdejo-Román & Andrés Catena

  2. The Department of Psychiatry, Research Unit of Clinical Neuroscience, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland

    Lassi Björnholm, Johannes Lieslehto & Juha Veijola

  3. Department of Psychiatry, Oulu University Hospital, Oulu, Finland

    Lassi Björnholm, Johannes Lieslehto & Juha Veijola

  4. Medical Research Center Oulu, Oulu University Hospital and University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland

    Lassi Björnholm, Johannes Lieslehto, Juha Veijola & Juha Nikkinen

  5. The Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Erasmus MC, Sophia Children’s Hospital, Rotterdam, 3000 CB, The Netherlands

    Ryan L. Muetzel, Tonya White, Henning Tiemeier & Hanan El Marroun

  6. The Generation R Study Group, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, 3000 CA, The Netherlands

    Ryan L. Muetzel, Vincent Jaddoe & Hanan El Marroun

  7. The Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, 3000 CA, The Netherlands

    Ryan L. Muetzel

  8. EURISTIKOS, Excellence Center for Pediatric Research, University of Granada, Granada, Spain

    Francisco José Torres-Espínola, Daniel Campos & Cristina Campoy

  9. The Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of Granada, Granada, Spain

    Francisco José Torres-Espínola, Daniel Campos & Cristina Campoy

  10. The Department of Pediatrics, Erasmus MC, Sophia Children’s Hospital, Rotterdam, 3000 CB, The Netherlands

    Vincent Jaddoe & Hanan El Marroun

  11. Department of Oncology and Radiotherapy, Oulu University Hospital, Oulu, Finland

    Juha Nikkinen

  12. Institute of Diagnostics, Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Oulu University Hospital, Oulu, Finland

    Vesa Kiviniemi

  13. Center for Life Course Health Research, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland

    Marjo-Riitta Järvelin & Sylvain Sebert

  14. Biocenter Oulu, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland

    Marjo-Riitta Järvelin

  15. Unit of Primary Health Care, Oulu University Hospital, Oulu, Finland

    Marjo-Riitta Järvelin

  16. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, MRC-PHE Centre for Environment and Health, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK

    Marjo-Riitta Järvelin

  17. Department of Life Sciences, College of Health and Life Sciences, Brunel University London, London, UK

    Marjo-Riitta Järvelin

  18. The Department of Social and Behavioral Science, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    Henning Tiemeier

  19. Department of Psychology, Education & Child Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Hanan El Marroun

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  1. Juan Verdejo-Román
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Correspondence to Hanan El Marroun.

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Verdejo-Román, J., Björnholm, L., Muetzel, R.L. et al. Maternal prepregnancy body mass index and offspring white matter microstructure: results from three birth cohorts. Int J Obes 43, 1995–2006 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41366-018-0268-x

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