Maternal Obesity Linked to Pediatric Hospital Admissions for Infection

WEDNESDAY, June 4, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Maternal obesity grades 2 and 3 is associated with hospital admissions for infection throughout childhood, according to a study published online June 3 in BMJ Medicine.

Victoria Coathup, Ph.D., from the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, and colleagues conducted a longitudinal cohort study to examine the relation between maternal body mass index and hospital admissions for infections in their offspring. Participants included 9,540 singleton births between 2007 and 2011, born to 9,037 mothers (about 56 percent with overweight or obesity).

The researchers observed a positive association for first-trimester maternal body mass index with rates of hospital admissions for infection across all ages; the associations were only significant for children born to women with obesity grades 2 to 3. Children born to women with obesity grades 2 to 3 had adjusted rate ratios of 1.41 and 1.53 for hospital admissions for infection at younger than 1 year of age and at age 5 to 15 years, respectively, compared with children born to women with a healthy body mass index. Trends were similar for respiratory and gastrointestinal infections and for multisystem viral infections. Of the association, 21 and 26 percent were accounted for by being born by cesarean section and child obesity at age 4 to 5 years, respectively.

“Public health campaigns and continued support for health care professionals are needed to help women achieve and maintain a healthy body weight before conception,” the authors write.

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