Abstract:

Objective To investigate the effect of gestational diabetes， maternal weight gain during pregnancy and feeding methods on early neurodevelopmental delays in offspring. Methods The study used a retrospective cohort study to analyze the general information of 8023 mothers and their offspring. Logistic and linear regression models were used to analyze the associations between gestational diabetes， maternal weight gain during pregnancy， feeding methods， and neurodevelopmental delays in their offspring. Results In this study， the average maternal age in the cohort was （29.46 ± 4.57） years， and the pre?pregnancy BMI was （21.38 ± 3.09）. Among the newborns， 4450（55.5%） were male， 4351（54.2%） were breastfed， and 735（9.2%） were low birth weight. After adjustment， artificial feeding was positively correlated with delayed neurobehavioral development ［OR = 1.70， （95% CI： 1.24 ~ 2.33）］. Moreover， gestational diabetes， inadequate gestational weight gain and artificial feeding negatively correlated with developmental quotient ［β = -0.44， 95% CI： -0.87 ~ -0.008； β = -0.73， 95% CI： -1.25 ~ -0.22； β = -0.80， 95% CI： -1.34 ~ -0.26］. Maternal gestational diabetes was significantly associated with delay in gross motor skills and social abilities in their offspring. Inadequate maternal weight gain during pregnancy was associated with delay in all five domains of neurodevelopment in their offspring. Moreover， artificial feeding was associated with all five domains of neurodevelopmental delays in the offspring. Conclusion Maternal inadequate weight gain during pregnancy and artificial feeding are risk factors for neurodevelopmental delay in offspring. Maternal gestational diabetes was associated with delayed gross motor and social skill in their offspring.

Key words: gestational diabetes, early neurodevelopment, feeding patterns, maternal weight gain during pregnancy