Peer-reviewed article
Parental birth weight as a predictor of neonatal and childhood outcomes in children: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Dutta D, Nagendra L, Bhattacharya S, Kamrul-Hasan ABM, Yajnik CS ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This systematic review and meta-analysis examined how parents' birth weight predicts health outcomes in their children. The analysis of 14 studies covering over 320,000 parent-child pairs found that mothers who had low birth weight were more likely to have babies with low birth weight or growth restriction. Mothers with larger birth weight had babies who were also larger. The study shows that a parent's own birth weight is reflected in their child's birth weight.
Key points
- Maternal low birth weight increased the odds of neonatal low birth weight by 1.95 times and small for gestational age by 2.29 times
- Maternal macrosomia increased the odds of neonatal macrosomia by 2.66 times
- Maternal low birth weight was protective against neonatal macrosomia (odds ratio 0.50)
- Maternal low birth weight had no significant impact on preterm labour or delivery
- Paternal low birth weight was associated with metabolic syndrome and diabetes in adulthood, while maternal low birth weight was not
Limitations
The review does not explain the mechanisms by which parental birth weight affects child outcomes, nor does it discuss whether these associations are causal or confounded by shared genetic or environmental factors. The high heterogeneity in some analyses (I² up to 91%) suggests variability across included studies that may limit generalisability.
Abstract
Several studies have been published studying association between parental low birth weight (BW) and neonatal outcomes of their children. To date no systematic review and meta-analysis (SRM) has been published to quantify the impact of maternal and paternal BW on outcomes in the next generation. The aim of this SRM was to analyse the association between parental BW and anthropometric and metabolic outcomes in their children.Electronic databases were searched for studies documenting BW of parents and children with neonatal outcomes. Primary outcome was to evaluate impact of parental BW on occurrence of LBW in children. Secondary outcomes were to assess impact of parental BW on occurrence of macrosomia, small for gestational age (SGA), preterm labour/delivery, and burden of non-communicable disease in later life.We screened 54,961 articles, data from 14 studies (320,515 parent-child pairs), which fulfilled all criteria, were analysed. Maternal LBW was associated with higher chances of neonatal LBW [odds ratio (OR)1.95 (95% CI:1.56-2.46); P < 0.01; I2 = 91%], neonatal SGA [OR 2.29(95% CI:1.72-3.05); P < 0.01; I2 = 37%], lower chances of neonatal macrosomia [OR 0.50 (95% CI:0.39-0.65); P < 0.01; I2 = 35%] and had no impact on preterm labour/delivery [OR1.20(95% CI:0.67-2.16); P = 0.53; I2 = 88%]. Maternal macrosomia was associated with higher neonatal macrosomia [OR 2.66 (95% CI:2.44-3.16); P < 0.01; I2 = 48%], lower SGA [OR 0.40(95% CI:0.29-0.53); P < 0.01; I2 = 0%] and preterm labour/delivery [OR 0.77 (95% CI:0.63-0.94); P < 0.01; I2 = 4%]. Paternal but not maternal LBW was predictor of metabolic syndrome and diabetes in adulthood.Maternal LBW is an important predictor of LBW and SGA in neonates. Maternal macrosomia is an important predictor of neonatal macrosomia; is protective against SGA and preterm labour/childbirth. Neonatal size of parents is reflected in neonatal size of their children.