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Hum. Reprod. Advance Access originally published online on October 12, 2007
Human Reproduction 2008 23(1):168-177; doi:10.1093/humrep/dem316
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Parental characteristics as predictors of birthweight

Fei Xue1,2,8, Walter C. Willett3,4,7, Bernard A. Rosner3,5, Michele R. Forman6 and Karin B. Michels1,2,3

1 Obstetrics and Gynecology Epidemiology Center, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 221 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA 2 Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA 3 Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 180 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA 4 Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA 5 Department of Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA 6 M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, The University of Texas, Houston, TX 77030, USA

8 Correspondence address. Obstetrics and Gynecology Epidemiology Center, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 221 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Tel: +1-(617)-953-6459; Fax: +1-(617)-732-4899; E-mail: n2fei{at}channing.harvard.edu

BACKGROUND: Previous studies provided conflicting results on the relevance of parental characteristics for offspring's size at birth. The objective of this study was to investigate parental predictors of birthweight.

METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, 34 063 women in the Nurses' Mother's Cohort were queried about parental characteristics during the pregnancy with and birthweight of their nurse daughter.

RESULTS: The predictive linear regression model of birthweight included 13 factors and the majority of the predictive power came from parental anthropometric factors. In the adjusted analysis, daily consumption of each additional glass of milk was associated with an increase of ~6 g in birthweight (P for trend = 0.01) and daily consumption of each additional cup of coffee was associated with a decrease of ~10 g in birthweight (P for trend < 0.0001). Drinking 1–2, 3–4 and 5+ cups of coffee daily was associated with a 28% [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.12, 0.47], 30% (95% CI 0.10, 0.55) and 63% (95% CI 0.25, 1.12) increase, respectively, in the odds of intrauterine growth restriction when compared with non-drinkers.

CONCLUSIONS: The present study confirmed several previously reported determinants of birthweight. Maternal dietary intake of milk and coffee during pregnancy may influence fetal growth.

Key words: epidemiology/pregnancy/embryo development/birthweight/parental characteristics

7 Present address: 651 Huntington Avenue, Building II, Room 311, Boston, MA 02115, USA

Submitted on May 20, 2007; resubmitted on August 6, 2007; accepted on August 28, 2007.


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