Do Adverse Intrauterine Environments Affect Body Mass Index in Infants and Preschool Children?
5 affiliations
- 1Graduate Program in Child and Adolescent Health, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
- 2Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
- 3Graduate Program in Psychology, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
- 4Graduate Program in Human Movement Science, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
- 5Graduate Program in Food, Nutrition and Health, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Abstract
Introduction
Exposure to adverse intrauterine environments resulting from different maternal clinical conditions may alter childhood growth patterns. This study investigated the influence of such environments on body mass index-for-age (BMI-for-age) trajectories from birth to preschool age.Methods
A total of 342 mother-child dyads recruited from three hospitals in southern Brazil were allocated into five groups: diabetes mellitus (DM), systemic arterial hypertension (SAH), maternal smoking, small for gestational age (SGA, used here as a proxy for impaired fetal growth), and a control group. Children were assessed at seven time points from birth to preschool age using anthropometric measurements to calculate BMI-for-age z-scores.Results
Generalized estimating equations (GEE) identified a significant interaction between group and time (p < 0.001). Among girls, at birth, the DM group presented higher BMI-for-age z-scores than the smoking group and reached elevated BMI-for-age z-scores at preschool age, differing from the control group. At 6 months of age, girls in the SGA group showed a marked increase in BMI-for-age. Among boys, the SGA group reached higher BMI-for-age values at preschool age than the DM and control groups. Differences were observed across time, group, and sex in the SGA and control groups (p < 0.001).Conclusion
These findings suggest that adverse intrauterine environments may influence BMI-for-age trajectories during early life, with greater variability and evidence of catch-up growth among children exposed to maternal DM and SGA. Results should be interpreted cautiously due to unequal subgroup sizes and substantial loss to follow-up at preschool age.
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BibTeX
@article{koglin2026adverse,
title = {{Do Adverse Intrauterine Environments Affect Body Mass Index in Infants and Preschool Children?}},
author = {Gabriela Koglin and Clécio Homrich da Silva and Denise Ruschel Bandeira and Nadia Cristina Valentini and Marcelo Zubaran Goldani and Juliana Rombaldi Bernardi},
journal = {American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1002/ajhb.70359},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42963904},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Do Adverse Intrauterine Environments Affect Body Mass Index in Infants and Preschool Children?
AU - Gabriela Koglin
AU - Clécio Homrich da Silva
AU - Denise Ruschel Bandeira
AU - Nadia Cristina Valentini
AU - Marcelo Zubaran Goldani
AU - Juliana Rombaldi Bernardi
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/30
JO - American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council
DO - 10.1002/ajhb.70359
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42963904
AB - Introduction Exposure to adverse intrauterine environments resulting from different maternal clinical conditions may alter childhood growth patterns. This study investigated the influence of such environments on body mass index-for-age (BMI-for-age) trajectories from birth to preschool age.Methods A total of 342 mother-child dyads recruited from three hospitals in southern Brazil were allocated into five groups: diabetes mellitus (DM), systemic arterial hypertension (SAH), maternal smoking, small for gestational age (SGA, used here as a proxy for impaired fetal growth), and a control group. Children were assessed at seven time points from birth to preschool age using anthropometric measurements to calculate BMI-for-age z-scores.Results Generalized estimating equations (GEE) identified a significant interaction between group and time (p < 0.001). Among girls, at birth, the DM group presented higher BMI-for-age z-scores than the smoking group and reached elevated BMI-for-age z-scores at preschool age, differing from the control group. At 6 months of age, girls in the SGA group showed a marked increase in BMI-for-age. Among boys, the SGA group reached higher BMI-for-age values at preschool age than the DM and control groups. Differences were observed across time, group, and sex in the SGA and control groups (p < 0.001).Conclusion These findings suggest that adverse intrauterine environments may influence BMI-for-age trajectories during early life, with greater variability and evidence of catch-up growth among children exposed to maternal DM and SGA. Results should be interpreted cautiously due to unequal subgroup sizes and substantial loss to follow-up at preschool age.
SN - 1042-0533
SN - 1520-6300
ER -