Is there a greater maternal than paternal influence on offspring adiposity in India?

Date:        Monday, 24th February, 2014
Time:       16.00 - 17.00
Venue:     Room OS6 (Seminar Room), Second Floor, Oakfield House

Objective: To investigate the role of intrauterine influences on childhood adiposity in India.

Methods: We analyzed a sample of 16 528 mother-father-offspring trios from the 2005-6 Indian National Family Health Survey. Children were aged 0-59 months with parents aged 15-49 years (mothers) and 15-54 years (father). Linear and logistic regression models were used to estimate the associations between parental BMI and child BMI and BMI* (child BMI redefined by power term x [kg/mx] to be independent from height), and being in the lowest/highest 5th percentile of BMI/BMI*.

Results: In covariate-adjusted models that included BMI information from both parents, a one SD higher maternal BMI was associated with an increase of 0.127 (95% CI: 0.104, 0.150) in offspring BMI*, and an increase of 0.104 (95% CI: 0.081, 0.126) in offspring BMI.  The equivalent figures per SD increase in paternal BMI were 0.081 (95% CI: 0.057, 0.105) for BMI*, and 0.055 (95% CI: 0.029, 0.080) for BMI; with evidence of heterogeneity between maternal-offspring and paternal-offspring associations for offspring BMI* (p=0.013) and offspring BMI (p=0.011). This difference did not persist among a subsample of trios with parental BMI > 21 kg/m2. Similar associations were found between parental BMI and offspring adiposity for children in the highest/lowest 5th percentile of BMI* and BMI.

Conclusions:  Although shared genetic, social, and environmental influences are of most relevance in explaining parent-offspring associations, there may be a specific influence of maternal adiposity on offspring adiposity in the Indian context, particularly among underweight parents, and possibly acting through an intrauterine influence.

Daniel Corsi

Daniel Corsi (PhD, McMaster University 2012) is an epidemiologist with a focus on developing innovative methods for population health research in the areas of multilevel modelling, epidemiological designs to improve causal inference, measurement of environmental exposures, and methods of anthropometric and biomarker assessment.  His recent work has focused on intergenerational links between social disadvantage and poor nutrition in India. Dr Corsi is a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health.

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