Mother's weight in pregnancy and coronary heart disease in a cohort of Finnish men: a follow-up study

Forsen T, Eriksson JG

1997

Helsinki, Finland

The authors studied 3,302 men born in Helsinki University Central Hospital during 1924-33 who went to school in the city of Helsinki and were resident in Finland in 1971. Men who were thin at birth with low placental weight had high death rates from coronary heart disease. Men whose mothers had a high body mass index in pregnancy also had high death rates. The effect of mother's body mass index was restricted to mothers of below average stature. The authors suggest a new explanation for the epidemics of coronary heart disease which accompany Westernisation. Chronically malnourished women are short and light and their babies tend to be thin. The immediate effect of improved nutrition is that women become fat which seems to increase the risk of coronary heart disease in the next generation. With continued improvement in nutrition women become taller and heavier, their babies are adequately nourished and maternal fatness no longer increases the risk of coronary heart disease.

Such a study does not take into account the fact that the maternal body mass index is influenced by parity and that average birth weight is influenced by birth order. See other studies linking birth weight to coronary heart disease.