Metabolic Syndrome in Childhood: Association With Birth Weight, Maternal Obesity, and Gestational Diabetes Mellitus

Abstract

We showed that LGA offspring of diabetic mothers were at significant risk of developing MS in childhood. The prevalence of MS in the other groups was similar to the prevalence (4.8%) among white adolescents in the 1988-1994 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. This effect of LGA with maternal GDM on childhood MS was previously demonstrated for Pima Indian children but not the general population. We also found that children exposed to maternal obesity were at increased risk of developing MS, which suggests that obese mothers who do not fulfill the clinical criteria for GDM may still have metabolic factors that affect fetal growth and postnatal outcomes. Children who are LGA at birth and exposed to an intrauterine environment of either diabetes or maternal obesity are at increased risk of developing MS. Given the increased obesity prevalence, these findings have implications for perpetuating the cycle of obesity, insulin resistance, and their consequences in subsequent generations.