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Epidemiology and population health

Maternal smoking, genetic susceptibility, and birth-to-adulthood body weight

International Journal of Obesity volume 44, pages 1330–1340 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

Background

Maternal smoking (MS) is associated with low birthweight (BW) but adult obesity in offspring, however, it remains unknown whether it modifies offspring’s genetic susceptibility to obesity on BW, adult body weight, and birth-to-adulthood body weight tracking pattern.

Methods

This study included 246,759 UK Biobank participants with information on MS, BW (kg), adult body weight and BMI (kg/m2). Individual polygenetic score (PGS) was created on the basis of 97 BMI-associated genetic loci. We calculated individual birth-to-adulthood percentile change, and body weight tracking patterns that combined BW levels (<2.5, 2.5–4.0, and ≥4.0 as low, normal and high BW [LBW, NBW, and HBW]) and adulthood obesity status (≥30 as obesity [OB] and <30 as non-obesity [NOB]), including LBW-to-OB, LBW-to-NOB, NBW-to-OB, NBW-to-NOB, HBW-to-OB, and HBW-to-NOB.

Results

Participants exposed to MS had a 0.108 kg lower BW (95% CI, −0.114 to −0.102), a 1.418 kg higher adult body weight (95% CI, 1.291–1.545), and a 6.91 greater percentile increase of body weight from birth to adulthood (95% CI, 6.62–7.21), compared with those nonexposed (all P < 0.001). In comparison to participants of NBW-to-NOB, MS was associated with an approximately twofold higher risk of LBW-to-OB (odds ratio [OR] 1.98, 95% CI 1.87–2.10), and a reduced likelihood of HBW-to-NOB (0.85, 95% CI 0.82–0.88). The increases in BW, adult body weight, and birth-to-adulthood percentile change per increment of 10 BMI-PGS were 0.021 vs. 0.012, 2.50 vs. 2.11, and 4.03 vs. 3.55, respectively, for participants exposed vs. nonexposed to MS (all Pinteraction < 0.05).

Conclusion

Our results indicate that exposure to MS is associated with an increased risk of transition from low BW-to-adulthood obesity, and reduced likelihood of change from high BW-to-normal adult body weight. MS may modify the relation of genetic susceptibility to obesity and body weight in offspring.

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Fig. 1: Association between maternal smoking around birth and percentile changes in body weight from birth to adulthood by three birthweight categories among 238,415 European participants.
Fig. 2: Associations of BMI-PGS with Birthweight.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the participants, the members, the project development and management teams in the present study in the UK Biobank. This research has been conducted using the UK Biobank Resource, approved project number 29256.

Funding

This study is supported by grants from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (HL071981, HL034594, HL126024), the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (DK091718, DK100383, DK078616), the Boston Obesity Nutrition Research Center (DK46200), and United States–Israel Binational Science Foundation Grant 2011036 (LQ). The sponsor had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

Author contributions

DS and LQ conceptualized and designed the study, coordinated and supervised the project, drafted the initial manuscript, and approved the final manuscript as submitted. DS, TZ, and XL contributed to data cleaning and the statistical analysis. SHL, YH, and LQ contributed to critical revision of the manuscript. All authors actively contributed to the final manuscript and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work. DS and LQ have full access to all of the data in the study and take responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis; they are the guarantors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing, China

    Dianjianyi Sun

  2. Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA

    Tao Zhou, Xiang Li, Sylvia H. Ley, Yoriko Heianza & Lu Qi

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

    Sylvia H. Ley & Lu Qi

  4. Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Sylvia H. Ley & Lu Qi

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Sun, D., Zhou, T., Li, X. et al. Maternal smoking, genetic susceptibility, and birth-to-adulthood body weight. Int J Obes 44, 1330–1340 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41366-019-0509-7

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