Maternal body mass index in pregnancy and offspring physical and psychosocial functioning in older age: findings from the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study (HBCS)

Figures & data

Figure 1. (a) Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for poor physical functioning (dots) and psychosocial functioning (squares) according to tertiles of maternal body mass index, both sexes combined. Model 1 is adjusted for age and sex; Model 2, in addition to age, is also adjusted for parity, gestational age, childhood social class and smoking; Model 3, in addition to all previous adjustments, is adjusted for birth weight. (b) Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for poor physical functioning (dots) and psychosocial functioning (squares) according to tertiles of maternal body mass index for men. Model 1 is adjusted for age; Model 2, in addition to age, is also adjusted for parity, gestational age, childhood social class and smoking; Model 3, in addition to all previous adjustments, is adjusted for birth weight. (c) Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for poor physical functioning (dots) and psychosocial functioning (squares) according to tertiles of maternal body mass index for women. Model 1 is adjusted for age; Model 2, in addition to age, is also adjusted for parity, gestational age, childhood social class and smoking; Model 3, in addition to all previous adjustments, is adjusted for birth weight.

Table 1. Maternal characteristics of men and women belonging to the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study.

	Men (n = 810)			Women (n = 949)
	Mean	Range	SD	Mean	Range	SD
Age (years)	28.7	17.0–48.0	5.5	28.6	17.0–44.0	5.5
Weight (kg)	67.6	39.0–100.0	8.1	67.5	46.5–99.0	8.1
Height (cm)	159.6	140.0–195.0	6.0	159.5	145.0–178.0	5.6
BMI (kg/m^2)	26.5	15.6–43.4	3.0	26.5	18.4–42.7	2.8
Parity	2.0	1–13	1.4	1.9	1–10	1.2
SES^a (n/%)
Highest	135 (16.7)			119 (12.6)
Middle	194 (24.0)			213 (22.6)
Lowest	476 (59.1)			612 (64.8)

a Socioeconomic status (based on husband’s occupation) was drawn from offspring birth, child welfare and school health records and the highest group obtained from these three sets of records was used.

Table 2. Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for poorer physical and psychosocial functioning according to thirds of offspring birth weight.

	Physical functioning		Psychosocial functioning
	OR	95% CI	OR	95% CI
Birth weight (g), both sexes combined
≤2500	3.09	1.50–6.39	2.14	1.05–4.36
>2500 to ≤3000	1.26	0.94–1.69	0.94	0.69–1.27
>3000; ref.	1.00	–	1.00	–
Birth weight, men
≤2500	3.35	1.14–9.88	2.89	0.99–8.44
>2500 to ≤3000	1.30	0.79–2.16	0.89	0.53–1.50
>3000; ref.	1.00	–	1.00	–
Birth weight, women
≤2500	3.10	1.15–8.33	1.70	0.65–4.45
>2500 to ≤3000	1.21	0.84–1.75	0.94	0.65–1.38
>3000; ref.	1.00	–	1.00	–

Adjusted for, parity, gestational age, childhood social class, smoking, age and sex (when both sexes combined).