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The association of maternal overweight on long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes in premature infants (< 29 weeks) at 18–24 months corrected age

Journal of Perinatology volume 43, pages 1413–1419 (2023)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Objective

To determine the association of maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) and neurodevelopmental impairment (NDI) at 18–24 months corrected age (CA) in infants born < 29 weeks gestation.

Study design

Infants born between 2005 and 2015 at < 29 weeks gestation were included. BMI was categorized into BMI1 [18.5–24.9 kg/m2], BMI2 [25–29.9 kg/m2], BMI3 [ ≥ 30 kg/m2]. Primary outcome was death or NDI (Bayley-III scores < 85, cerebral palsy, hearing or visual impairment). Univariate and multivariate analysis were used.

Results

There were 315 infants in BMI1, 235 in BMI2, and 147 in BMI3 groups. Adjusted odds ratio (aOR) of death or NDI in BMI2 vs. BMI1 and BMI3 vs BMI1 groups were 1.33 (95% CI 0.86–2.06) and 0.76 (95% CI 0.47–1.22). Adjusted odds ratio of Bayley-III language composite < 85 was 2.06 (95% CI 1.28–3.32).

Conclusion

Pre-pregnancy BMI was not associated with death or NDI in extremely preterm infants. Infants born to overweight mothers had higher odds of low language scores.

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Fig. 1: Flow diagram of the study cohort.
Fig. 2: Neurodevelopmental outcomes at 18-24 months corrected age.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Susan Crawford, epidemiologist, Alberta Perinatal Health Program, Alberta Health Services, Calgary, Alberta, Canada for her valuable help in data acquisition.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

    Marina Journault, Prashanth Murthy, Neha Bansal, Essa Al Awad, Dianne Creighton & Abhay Lodha

  2. Alberta Health Services, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

    Marina Journault, Prashanth Murthy, Neha Bansal, Selphee Tang, Essa Al Awad, Jill Newman & Abhay Lodha

  3. Department of Community Health Sciences, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

    Abhay Lodha

  4. Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

    Abhay Lodha

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  1. Marina Journault
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Contributions

All authors have contributed to the study design, data acquisition, interpretation of results, reviewing the manuscript, and approval of the final version.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Abhay Lodha.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethical approval

The study was approved by the Conjoint Health Research Ethics Board of the University of Calgary.

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Journault, M., Murthy, P., Bansal, N. et al. The association of maternal overweight on long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes in premature infants (< 29 weeks) at 18–24 months corrected age. J Perinatol 43, 1413–1419 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-023-01733-1

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