ArticleBMJ open2018
Impact of parental weight status on children's body mass index in early life: evidence from a Chinese cohort.
Article in BMJ open, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- The Relationship Between Paternal Smoking and Overweight/Obesity with Childhood Overweight/Obesity: A Systematic Review.Current obesity reports · 2025Pooled it
- Caregiver Feeding Practices and Late-Preschool BMI-for-Age z-Score Trajectories Among WIC-Enrolled Children: A National Longitudinal Study.Nutrients · 2026Article
- Double burden of malnutrition by mid-childhood in an Indian birth cohort: a longitudinal study (2010-2021).The Lancet regional health. Southeast Asia · 2026Article
- Article
- Prevalence of overweight and obesity among preschool children in Hainan: a cross-sectional study in China's largest free-trade zone.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2024Article
- Parental Misperceptions of Their Offspring's Weight and Their Strategies for Child's Eating Behavior: A Narrative Review of the Recent Evidence.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Effects of paternal overnutrition and interventions on future generations.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2022Review
- Anything New about Paternal Contribution to Reproductive Outcomes? A Review of the Evidence.The world journal of men's health · 2021Review
- Association between parental and offspring BMI: results from EPACI Portugal 2012.Public health nutrition · 2021Article
- Role of Parents in Body Mass Reduction in Children with Obesity-Adherence and Success of 1-Year Participation in an Intervention Program.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2020Article
- Social determinants of overweight and obesity in the mother-child binomial: evidences from Mexico.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2020Article
- Paternal Nongenetic Intergenerational Transmission of Metabolic Disease Risk.Current diabetes reports · 2019Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesTo understand whether parents' weight status before conception predicts body mass index (BMI) of their offspring in early life and the differences between the mother-child and father-child associations.
designA birth cohort study.
settingConducted at the Community Health Service Centre in Shenyang, Wuhan and Guangzhou.
participantsA total of 2220 live birth newborns were recruited randomly after consent of their parents, and 1178 were followed up until 2 years old.
methodsParental demographics, maternal characteristics during pregnancy, children's anthropometric data and feeding patterns at 1 month old were collected. BMI was calculated and BMI Z-scores (BMI_Z) were generated by referring to WHO growth standard. Parental weight status was categorised into underweight, normal weight, and overweight and obese according to the Working Group of Obesity in China. General linear models and generalised linear models were used to assess the associations between parents and offspring. OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcomes were descriptive data on child's sex-specific anthropometric variables. The secondary outcomes were BMI_Z and weight status of children at each time point.
resultsNo gender difference was observed in BMI_Z or overweight or obesity rates from birth to 24 months old, although boys were significantly heavier and had a greater length/height than girls (P<0.05). The overweight and obesity rates of children peaked at 12 months old. Maternal BMI/weight status had a significant but small effect on BMI_Z at birth, but not on the paternal side. The impact of parental BMI on child's BMI_Z after birth was similar at each follow-up. Offspring with underweight mothers tend to have reduced BMI_Z after birth while overweight/obese fathers had children with a greater BMI_Z.
conclusionsMaternal weight status had small effect on both fetal and child growth after birth. Significant but mild paternal influence was only detected after birth.
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