Mother‐child cardiometabolic health 4–10 years after pregnancy complicated by obesity with and without gestational diabetes

Abstract

Abstract Objective Obesity in pregnancy and gestational diabetes (GDM) increase cardiometabolic disease risk but are difficult to disentangle. This study aimed to test the hypothesis that 4–10 years after a pregnancy complicated by overweight/obesity and GDM (OB‐GDM), women and children would have greater adiposity and poorer cardiometabolic health than those with overweight/obesity (OB) or normal weight (NW) and no GDM during the index pregnancy. Methods In this cross‐sectional study, mother‐child dyads were stratified into three groups based on maternal health status during pregnancy (OB‐GDM = 67; OB = 76; NW = 76). Weight, height, waist and hip circumferences, and blood pressure were measured, along with fasting glucose, insulin, HbA1c, lipids, adipokines, and cytokines. Results Women in the OB and OB‐GDM groups had greater current adiposity and poorer cardiometabolic health outcomes than those in the NW group (p < 0.05). After adjusting for current adiposity, women in the OB‐GDM group had higher HbA1c, glucose, HOMA‐IR and triglycerides than NW and OB groups (p < 0.05). Among children, adiposity was greater in the OB‐GDM versus NW group (p < 0.05), but other indices of cardiometabolic health did not differ. Conclusions Poor cardiometabolic health in women with prior GDM is independent of current adiposity. Although greater adiposity among children exposed to GDM is evident at 4–10 years, differences in cardiometabolic health may not emerge until later.

Keywords

• adiposity
• diabetes
• intrauterine programming
• metabolic health
• pregnancy