Gestational Diabetes But Not Prepregnancy Overweight Predicts for Cardiometabolic Markers in Offspring Twenty Years Later

Abstract

<div><div><div>Context</div><div>Maternal gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and prepregnancy overweight/obesity [body mass index (BMI) ≥25 kg/m2] might adversely affect offspring cardiometabolic health.</div><div>Objective</div><div>To assess the associations between maternal GDM and prepregnancy overweight/obesity with adult offspring cardiometabolic risk factors.</div><div>Design</div><div>Longitudinal cohort study (ESTER Maternal Pregnancy Disorders Study and the Arvo Ylppö Longitudinal Study).</div><div>Setting</div><div>Province of Uusimaa and Northern Finland.</div><div>Participants</div><div>At a mean age of 24.1 ± 1.3 years, we classified offspring as offspring of mothers with GDM regardless of the prepregnancy BMI (OGDM; n = 193); normoglycemic mothers with prepregnancy overweight/obesity (ONO; n = 157); and normoglycemic mothers with prepregnancy BMI <25 kg/m2 (controls; n = 556).</div><div>Main Outcome Measures</div><div>We assessed the cardiometabolic biomarkers from blood and measured the blood pressure at rest and heart rate.</div><div>Results</div><div>Compared with the controls, the OGDM and ONO groups had greater fasting glucose (1.6%; 95% CI, 0.1% to 3.1%; and 2.3%; 95% CI, 0.5% to 4.3%, respectively) and insulin (12.7%; 95% CI, 4.4% to 21.9%; and 8.7%; 95% CI, 0.2% to 17.8%). These differences attenuated to nonsignificance when adjusted for confounders and/or current offspring characteristics, including BMI or body fat percentage. The OGDM group had lower SHBG (men, −12.4%; 95% CI, −20.2% to −3.9%; women, −33.2%; 95% CI, −46.3% to −16.8%), high-density lipoprotein (−6.6%; 95% CI, −10.9% to −2.2%), and apolipoprotein A1 (−4.5%; 95% CI, −7.5% to −1.4%). These differences survived the adjustments. The heart rate and other biomarkers were similar among the groups.</div><div>Conclusions</div><div>Adult offspring of mothers with GDM have increased markers of insulin resistance and a more atherogenic lipid profile. These were only partly explained by confounders or current offspring adiposity. Maternal prepregnancy overweight/obesity was associated with impaired offspring glucose regulation, which was explained by confounders and/or current adiposity.</div></div></div>