Preeclampsia exposed offspring have greater body mass index than non-exposed offspring during peripubertal life: A meta-analysis

Abstract Background This study evaluates the effect of preeclampsia on body mass index (BMI) of offspring who were exposed to preeclampsia in utero. Methods Data were obtained from studies identified by a literature search in electronic databases. Random-effects metanalyses were conducted to achieve mean difference in BMI, waist circumference, gestation length, and birthweight between preeclampsia exposed (PE) and non-exposed (non-PE) offspring older than 5 years. Metaregression analyses were performed to identify factors affecting offspring BMI. Results Sixteen studies (11639 PE offspring; age 15.5 years [14.2, 16.8]; 33.3% [32.6, 33.9] males vs 526,576 non-PE offspring; age 15.7 years [15.0, 16.4]; 42.6% [40.6, 44.5] male) were used. Gestation duration and birthweight of PE fetuses were significantly lesser than those of non-PE fetuses (mean difference (MD) −0.66 weeks [−1.25, −0.07]; p = 0.03 and MD −207.9 [−344.0, −71.8]; p = 0.003) respectively. BMI of PE offspring was significantly higher than non-PE offspring (MD 0.54 kg/m2 [0.27, 0.82]; p = 0.0001). Odds of being obese was significantly higher in PE than non-PE offspring (odds ratio 2.12 [1.70, 2.66]; P  Conclusion Preeclampsia poses risk of higher BMI and waist circumference especially to the offspring of older mothers.