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Pediatrics

Associations of prenatal exposure to impaired glucose tolerance with eating in the absence of hunger in early adolescence

International Journal of Obesity volume 43, pages 1903–1913 (2019)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Objective

Exposure to impaired gestational glucose tolerance has been shown to have sex-specific associations with offspring obesity risk, perhaps by affecting the development of appetite regulation. We examined the extent to which prenatal exposure to impaired glucose tolerance was associated with eating in the absence of hunger (EAH) in early adolescent offspring, and in turn, whether EAH was cross-sectionally associated with body composition.

Methods

We included data from 1097 adolescents participating in Project Viva, a pre-birth longitudinal cohort. We obtained the results of two-stage prenatal glycemic screening (50 g glucose challenge test, followed if abnormal by 100 g oral glucose tolerance test) at 26–28 weeks of gestation, and categorized mothers as having normal glucose tolerance, isolated hyperglycemia (IH, n = 92, 8.4%), impaired glucose tolerance (IGT, n = 36, 3.3%), or gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM, n = 52, 4.7%). At a median age of 13 years, offspring reported on two modified items of the Eating in the Absence of Hunger in Children and Adolescents questionnaire, we measured height and weight, and performed dual X-ray absorptiometry scans to assess fat and fat-free mass. We used multivariable linear regression analyses adjusted for sociodemographic and prenatal covariates, including maternal pre-pregnancy BMI.

Results

On a ten-point scale, the mean (SD) EAH score was 4.4 points (SD = 1.5) in boys and 4.4 (SD = 1.4) in girls. In girls, prenatal exposure to both IH and IGT was associated with more EAH compared with normal glucose tolerance (e.g., for IH: 0.56 points, 95% CI: 0.17, 0.96), whereas in boys, prenatal exposure to IGT was associated with less EAH (–0.81 points, 95% CI: −1.41, −0.21). We did not observe an association between exposure to GDM and EAH, nor did we observe associations between EAH and body composition in early adolescence.

Conclusions

These findings suggest sex-specific associations of exposure to impaired gestational glucose tolerance with offspring EAH in early adolescence.

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Acknowledgements

Project Viva is supported by the National Institutes of Health (R01 HD034568, UG3OD023286). We appreciate the dedication of Project Viva participants and staff. This study was supported by the Dutch KNAW Ter Meulen Foundation. PWJ is supported by the Dutch Diabetes Foundation (grant number: 2013.81.1664).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychology, Erasmus MC- University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Ivonne P. M. Derks & Pauline W. Jansen

  2. Division of Chronic Disease Across the Lifecourse, Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Boston, MA, USA

    Ivonne P. M. Derks, Marie-France Hivert, Sheryl L. Rifas-Shiman, Véronique Gingras, Jessica G. Young & Emily Oken

  3. Diabetes Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    Marie-France Hivert

  4. Department of Psychology, Education and Child Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Pauline W. Jansen

  5. Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    Emily Oken

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Correspondence to Ivonne P. M. Derks.

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Derks, I.P.M., Hivert, MF., Rifas-Shiman, S.L. et al. Associations of prenatal exposure to impaired glucose tolerance with eating in the absence of hunger in early adolescence. Int J Obes 43, 1903–1913 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41366-018-0296-6

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