The Relation Between Prenatal Stress, Overweight and Obesity in Children Diagnosed According to BMI and Percentage Fat Tissue.

BackgroundOverweight and obesity in children have a negative impact not only on the physical development but also on the mental health of children. That is why researchers are constantly looking for possible causes of such high frequency of this phenomenon. One of the environmental factors contributing to abnormal weight changes in children may be maternal exposure to adverse environmental factors during pregnancy, which in previous studies led to inconclusive results showing both overweight and obesity and underweight in children. The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between prenatal stress and body weight status. MethodsThe cohort study included 254 girls and 276 boys. Information on prenatal stress was collected with a questionnaire completed by a parent/guardian of a 6–12-year-old child. We assessed the body mass status on the basis of BMI according to the IOTF criterion and on the basis of body fat according to McCarthy criterion. ResultsThe results of our study show that the prenatal stress was related to increased risk of overweight (OR 2.14, 95%CI: 1.25-3.65) diagnosed on the basis of body fat cut-off points, but not when the BMI was a diagnostic criterion (OR 1.03, 95%CI:0.58-1.83). ConclusionThe method of diagnosis based on the fat content appears to be an indicator of the occurrence of abnormalities in body composition due to prenatal stress more sensitive than that based on the BMI. Level of evidence: Evidence obtained from well-designed cohort or case-control analytic studies