Feed

Maternal pre- or early-pregnancy obesity is a risk factor for adverse health outcomes not only in the mother but also for the child later in life. It can lead to sustained and inappropriate stimulation of regulatory circuits, eventually resulting in multisystem dysregulation, termed allostatic load (AL). We hypothesized that maternal prepregnancy weight status, as measured by body mass index (BMI), exerts long-lasting effects on offspring, potentially resulting in elevated AL. Using data from the Mater University of Queensland Study of Pregnancy (MUSP), a longitudinal birth cohort (>8500 pregnant women), we investigate the association between maternal prepregnancy BMI and AL in adult offspring at age 30. Analyses were conducted in a subsample of 923 offspring with complete biomarker data, from whom an AL index capturing 17 multisystem physiological dysregulations was constructed. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to examine pathways linking maternal prepregnancy BMI to offspring AL index (ALI). Lower maternal socioeconomic status (SES) was associated with higher maternal BMI. Maternal prepregnancy BMI was positively associated with offspring AL index (β = 0.17, standard error (SE) = 0.01, p < 0.001), whereas mental health risk factors did not mediate this relationship. These findings suggest that maternal metabolic status at pre- and early-pregnancy exerts a long-lasting effect on offspring physiology, independent of maternal SES and mental health. Our findings underscore the practical importance of maternal weight management before pregnancy to support optimal offspring development.