Effect of Lifestyle Interventions in Obese Pregnant Women on the Neurocognitive Development and Anthropometrics of Preschool Children

Abstract

Introduction: Maternal obesity and excessive gestational weight gain are related to adverse outcomes in women and children. Lifestyle interventions during pregnancy showed positive effects on decreasing weight gain during pregnancy, but effects on offspring’s health and wellbeing are unclear. We aimed to assess the effect of lifestyle intervention programmes on offspring mental health, temperament, eating habits and anthropometric and cardiovascular measures. Methods: Ninety-six offspring of pregnant women with a body mass index (BMI) ≥29 kg/m2 who were randomly assigned to 3 intervention groups during pregnancy (routine antenatal care, a brochure group or a prenatal session group) and 77 offspring of pregnant women with a normal BMI (between 18.5 and 24.9 kg/m2) were used as an additional control group in this analysis. When the children were between 3 and 7 years old, anthropometric and cardiovascular measurements were conducted and various questionnaires about offspring mental health, temperament and eating habits were filled out. Results: Children of mothers who received a brochure-based lifestyle intervention programme showed significantly less surgency/extraversion compared to children of mothers who received routine antenatal care (contrast estimate = –0.36, SE = 0.15, p = 0.02, 95% CI [–6.66, –0.06]) and prenatal lifestyle intervention sessions (contrast estimate = –0.46, SE = 0.14, p < 0.01, 95% CI [–0.74, –0.18]) after adjusting for child’s age, sex, offspring birth weight and mother’s educational level. The lifestyle intervention could not be associated with any significant differences in offspring mental health, eating habits and anthropometric and cardiovascular characteristics. Children of mothers with a normal BMI showed less emotional problems (F(1, 156) = 5.42, p = 0.02) and internalizing (F(1, 156) = 3.04, p = 0.08) and externalizing problems (F(1, 156) = 6.10, p = 0.02) when compared to children of mothers in the obese group. Discussion/Conclusion: The results suggest that a brochure-based lifestyle intervention programme can affect the offspring temperament. Future follow-up studies need to investigate how these temperament-related effects may influence obesity development later in life.