Association of maternal thyroid disease with obesity in child

Objectives During pregnancy, many women develop thyroid disorders, which can result in fetal and neonatal development defects. We investigated whether maternal thyroid dysfunction would affect their children’s growth and obesity. Study design We conducted a nationwide population-based cohort study using a combination of data from several Korean nationwide registries to investigate the association between maternal thyroid dysfunction, offspring growth, and obesity. Childhood growth was repeatedly measured at three periods of age from 42 to 80 months, using body mass index (BMI). Results A total of 1,123,499 women were enrolled in this study; 78,902 (7.0%) had pre-pregnancy thyroid disease. Significant association was found between maternal hyperthyroidism and obesity in all children aged 42-66 months (42-54 months, adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 0.93, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.89-0.98; 54-66 months, aOR 0.93, 95% CI 0.87-0.99), but not at later ages. In the analysis by sex, maternal hyperthyroidism was associated with childhood obesity in boys, whereas it was not associated with those in girls of any age. No association was observed between maternal hypothyroidism and child BMI or obesity. Conclusions The association between maternal thyroid function and obesity in offspring is attenuated from early to late childhood, suggesting that many other factors may be involved in developing childhood obesity.