Nutrients · 18 authors, 9 centres
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In a Japanese birth cohort of 103,060 pregnancies, low maternal birth weight (<2500 g) was associated with increased odds of congenital heart disease, angioma, and inguinal hernia in offspring, while high maternal birth weight (≥4000 g) was associated with congenital anomalies of the urinary tract, compared with the reference group of 3000–3499 g.
This nationwide Japanese birth cohort study (the Japanese Environment and Children's Study) included 103,060 pregnancies and used binary logistic regression with adjustment for various covariates to examine whether maternal birth weight (MBW) is associated with congenital malformations in offspring. Low MBW (<2500 g) was associated with congenital heart disease (adjusted OR 1.388), angioma (1.491), and inguinal hernia (1.746), while high MBW (≥4000 g) was associated with congenital anomalies of the urinary tract (2.194) and arrhythmia (1.775), compared with the reference group of 3000–3499 g. Sex-specific analyses revealed additional associations, including cleft lip/palate and hypospadias in male infants with low MBW. The authors discuss potential mechanisms involving oxidative stress, epigenetic changes, and transgenerational effects. Limitations include reliance on self-reported MBW, potential residual confounding, and restriction to a single ethnicity (Japanese), which may limit generalizability.
