How Parental Obesity Affects Children's Development Study takes first look at effect of father's obesity

Maternal and paternal obesity are each linked to specific delays in early childhood development among both singletons and twins, according to a study published online in Pediatrics. Maternal obesity (body mass index [BMI] of 30 or more) was associated with delays in fine motor development (aOR 1.67; 95% CI 1.12 to 2.47), compared with normal or underweight mothers (BMI <25), even after adjusting for paternal BMI (aOR 1.67; 95% CI 1.11 to 2.52). Conversely, paternal obesity was linked to an increased risk of "failing the personal-social domain" (i.e., not achieving the skills necessary for emotional and social competence; aOR 1.75, 95% CI 1.13 to 2.71) compared with children of normal-weight fathers, although the association was attenuated after adjusting for maternal obesity (aOR 1.71, 95% CI 1.08 to 2.70), concluded Edwina H. Yeung, PhD, of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and colleagues. Additionally, children whose father and mother were obese (both parents with BMI ≥35) took longer to develop problem-solving skills (aOR 2.93, 95% CI 1.09 to 7.85). http://www.medpagetoday.com/Pediatrics/Obesity/62318?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2017-01-03&eun=g721819d0r&pos=1