Changes in growth and height reflect changes in nutritional status and health. The systematic surveillance of growth can suggest areas for interventions. Moreover, phenotypic variation has a strong intergenerational component. There is a lack of historical family data that can be used to track the transmission of height over subsequent generations. Maternal height is a proxy for conditions experienced by one generation that relates to the health/growth of future generations. Cross-sectional/cohort studies have shown that shorter maternal height is closely associated with lower birth weight of offspring. We analyzed the maternal height and offspring weight at birth in the maternity hospital in Basel, Switzerland, from 1896 to 1939 ( = ∼12,000) using generalized additive models (GAMs). We observed that average height of the mothers increased by ∼4 cm across 60 birth years and that average birth weight of their children shows a similarly shaped and upward trend 28 years later. Our final model (adjusted for year, parity, sex of the child, gestational age, and maternal birth year) revealed a significant and almost linear association between maternal height and birth weight. Maternal height was the second most important variable modeling birth weight, after gestational age. In addition, we found a significant association between maternal height and aggregated average height of males from the same birth years at time of conscription, 19 years later. Our results have implications for public health: When (female/maternal) height increases due to improved nutritional status, size at birth-and subsequently also the height in adulthood of the next generation-increases as well. However, the directions of development in this regard may currently differ depending on the world region.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgad208 | DOI Listing |
Cardiovasc Diabetol
January 2025
Department of Endocrinology and Nutrition, Virgen de la Victoria University Hospital, 29010, Málaga, Spain.
Background: The prevalence of obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is rising globally, particularly among children exposed to adverse intrauterine environments, such as those associated with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Epigenetic modifications, specifically DNA methylation, have emerged as mechanisms by which early environmental exposures can predispose offspring to metabolic diseases. This study aimed to investigate DNA methylation differences in children born to mothers with GDM compared to non-GDM mothers, using saliva samples, and to assess the association of these epigenetic patterns with early growth measurements.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Hyg Environ Health
January 2025
Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Food, Nutrition and Health, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. Electronic address:
Background: Previous studies indicated that early life exposure to particulate matter of 2.5 μm or less (PM) could impair children's growth. However, the adverse effects of maternal ozone (O) and its interplay with PM on offspring's growth are unclear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCureus
December 2024
Urogynecology, Advanced Center for Urogynecology Private Limited, Chennai, IND.
Background Obesity is postulated to be a high-risk factor for thrombosis along with the inherent hypercoagulability of pregnancy. The Confidential Review of Maternal Deaths (CRMD) found that thrombosis was one of the major causes of maternal deaths in Kerala. This study investigates the major risk factor - obesity and its association with thrombosis in our study setting, along with other risk factors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHeliyon
January 2025
Biosciences & Health Laboratory, BHL, Cadi Ayyad University, 40000, Marrakech, Morocco.
Background: Central obesity is a growing public health concern globally, and the recognition of its specific impact on Moroccan demographics remains scarce. This study examined the associations of body mass index (BMI) and central obesity status (WtHR) with sociodemographic characteristics and lifestyle habits in a sample of school-aged children from Marrakech, Morocco.
Methods: The study sample consisted of 1161 children (9.
J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med
December 2025
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Riga Stradins University, Riga, Latvia.
Objectives: To compare the values of ultrasound and clinical parameters for predicting outcomes of induction of labor (IOL) among healthy nulliparous women with a singleton, term cephalic pregnancy.
Methods: The cervical length, cervical strain elastography, posterior cervical angle, head-perineum distance, Bishop score, and maternal parameters were assessed before IOL with a combined method-Foley catheter and Misoprostol perorally. The main outcome was vaginal delivery.
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