Estudo intergeracional do peso ao nascer e da idade gestacional na coorte de nascimentos de 1982, Pelotas, Brasil

Abstract

794 women from the 1982 Pelotas Birth Cohort Study and their first singleton live-born birth were selected to explore the association between maternal and offspring birthweight and gestational age, as well as to discriminate between confounders and mediating factors of these associations. Exposures were maternal birthweight and gestational age, low birthweight (LBW; <2500g), preterm birth (<37 weeks) and small for gestational age status (SGA; <10 th percentile of Williams), to the respective outcomes in offspring. Information was gathered on potential confounding or mediating factors according to a hierarchical framework approach. A strong correlation coefficient was found between maternal and infant birthweight (r=0.18, p<0.001). An increase of 100g in mothers birthweight predicted a gain of 16g in their infants birthweight (95% CI 8.0, 24.0g; p<0.001). Maternal LBW was independently associated to offspring LBW, preterm and SGA status. SGA mothers had an increased risk of delivering a preterm newborn. Causal chain linking maternal LBW and SGA of the newborn was mediated by maternal pre-gestational weight (a proxy of malnutrition), a condition closely related to poverty. Thus, malnourished women are likely to give birth to LBW babies, perpetuating poverty in the subsequent generation. Addressing malnutrition helps break this vicious cycle and stop the intergenerational transmission of LBW, hence decreasing poverty and malnutrition in developing countries.