ABSTRACT
Are maternal vitamin D and E intakes during pregnancy associated with asthma in 10-year-old children? In a longitudinal study of 1924 children born to women recruited during pregnancy, maternal vitamin D intake during pregnancy was assessed by the Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) and vitamin E by FFQ and plasma α-tocopherol; respiratory questionnaires were completed for the 10-year-old children. Their treatment for asthma was also ascertained using administrative data. Longitudinal analyses included data collected at 1, 2, 5 and 10 years. Symptom data were available for 934 (49%) children and use of asthma medication for 1748 (91%). In the children maternal vitamin D intake during pregnancy was negatively associated with doctor-diagnosed asthma at 10 years of age (OR per intake quintile 0.86, 95% CI 0.74-0.99) and over the first 10 years (hazard ratio 0.90, 95% CI 0.81-1.00). Maternal plasma α-tocopherol at 11 weeks gestation was negatively associated with children receiving asthma treatment (OR per standard deviation increase 0.52, 95% CI 0.31-0.87). Maternal vitamin E intake was negatively associated with doctor-diagnosed asthma (OR 0.89, 95% CI 0.81-0.99) in the first 10 years. Low maternal vitamin D and E intakes during pregnancy are associated with increased risk of children developing asthma in the first 10 years of life. These associations may have significant public health implications.
Subject(s)
Asthma/etiology , Dietary Supplements/adverse effects , Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects , Vitamin D/adverse effects , Vitamin E/adverse effects , Age Distribution , Asthma/epidemiology , Asthma/physiopathology , Child , Female , Follow-Up Studies , Humans , Incidence , Infant, Newborn , Longitudinal Studies , Pregnancy , Prenatal Care , Risk Assessment , Sex Distribution , Surveys and Questionnaires , Vitamin D/administration & dosage , Vitamin E/administration & dosageABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: To determine whether maternal obesity during pregnancy is associated with increased mortality from cardiovascular events in adult offspring. DESIGN: Record linkage cohort analysis. SETTING: Birth records from the Aberdeen Maternity and Neonatal databank linked to the General Register of Deaths, Scotland, and the Scottish Morbidity Record systems. POPULATION: 37 709 people with birth records from 1950 to present day. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Death and hospital admissions for cardiovascular events up to 1 January 2012 in offspring aged 34-61. Maternal body mass index (BMI) was calculated from height and weight measured at the first antenatal visit. The effect of maternal obesity on outcomes in offspring was tested with time to event analysis with Cox proportional hazard regression to compare outcomes in offspring of mothers in underweight, overweight, or obese categories of BMI compared with offspring of women with normal BMI. RESULTS: All cause mortality was increased in offspring of obese mothers (BMI >30) compared with mothers with normal BMI after adjustment for maternal age at delivery, socioeconomic status, sex of offspring, current age, birth weight, gestation at delivery, and gestation at measurement of BMI (hazard ratio 1.35, 95% confidence interval 1.17 to 1.55). In adjusted models, offspring of obese mothers also had an increased risk of hospital admission for a cardiovascular event (1.29, 1.06 to 1.57) compared with offspring of mothers with normal BMI. The offspring of overweight mothers also had a higher risk of adverse outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Maternal obesity is associated with an increased risk of premature death in adult offspring. As one in five women in the United Kingdom is obese at antenatal booking, strategies to optimise weight before pregnancy are urgently required.
