ArticlePloS one2019
The association between caesarean section delivery and later life obesity in 21-24 year olds in an Urban South African birth cohort.
Article in PloS one, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- Caesarean section and obesity in young adult offspring: Update of a systematic review with meta-analysis.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2022Pooled it
- Association of cesarean section with breast cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Molecular and clinical oncology · 2025Article
- Caesarean Section Delivery Is Associated with Childhood Overweight and Obesity, Low Childbirth Weight and Postnatal Complications: A Cross-Sectional Study.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2023Article
- The Possible Contribution of being Born by Cesarean Section to Developing Childhood Overweight and Obesity in Later Life.Revista brasileira de ginecologia e obstetricia : revista da Federacao Brasileira das Sociedades de Ginecologia e Obstetricia · 2021Article
- [Heritability of obesity in children aged 30-36 months and an analysis of single nucleotide polymorphisms at four loci in Xi'an, China].Zhongguo dang dai er ke za zhi = Chinese journal of contemporary pediatrics · 2020Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundObesity is an important public health problem and rates have reached epidemic proportions in many countries. Studies have explored the association between infants delivered by caesarean section and their later life risk of obesity, in many countries outside Africa. As a result of the increasing caesarean section and obesity rates in South Africa, we investigated the association in this country.
methodsThis was a retrospective analysis of data that were collected from a prospective South African birth cohort (Birth to Twenty Plus), established in 1990. A total of 889 young adults aged 21-24 years were included in the analysis. Poisson regression models were fitted to assess the association between mode of delivery and early adulthood obesity.
resultsOf the 889 young adults, 106 (11.9%) were obese while 72 (8.1%) were delivered by caesarean section; of which 14 (19.4%) were obese. Caesarean section delivery was significantly associated with obesity in young adults after adjusting for potential confounders like young adults' sex and birth weight, mothers' parity, and education (incidence rate ratio 1.64, 95% CI 1.01-2.68, p = 0.045).
conclusionThe association of caesarean section with early adulthood obesity should be interpreted with caution because data on certain key confounding factors such as mothers' pre-pregnancy body mass index and gestational diabetes were not available. Further research from Africa, with larger sample sizes and databases with useful linking of maternal and infant data, should be conducted.
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