Maternal Overweight, Inflammation and Neurological Consequences for the Preterm Child: Results of the ELGAN Study

Lars Brodowski; Wolfgang Büter; Fabian Kohls; Peter Hillemanns; Constantin von Kaisenberg; Olaf Dammann

doi:10.1055/a-0960-0939

Geburtshilfe und Frauenheilkunde, Table of Contents

CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Geburtshilfe Frauenheilkd 2019; 79(11): 1176-1182
DOI: 10.1055/a-0960-0939

GebFra Science

Review/Übersicht

Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

Maternal Overweight, Inflammation and Neurological Consequences for the Preterm Child: Results of the ELGAN Study

Article in several languages: English | deutsch

Authors

Lars Brodowski

²Frauenklinik, Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Hannover, Germany
Wolfgang Büter

¹Kinderklinik, Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Hannover, Germany
Fabian Kohls

²Frauenklinik, Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Hannover, Germany
Peter Hillemanns

²Frauenklinik, Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Hannover, Germany
Constantin von Kaisenberg

²Frauenklinik, Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Hannover, Germany
Olaf Dammann

²Frauenklinik, Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Hannover, Germany

³Public Health & Community Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA

Abstract

Maternal overweight and obesity are prenatal risk factors for obstetrical complications, preterm birth, neonatal morbidity as well as cognitive and behavioural developmental disorders in children. Paediatric morbidity and mortality as well as child development disorders are significantly associated with maternal obesity. Particularly in the neurodevelopmental and psychiatric area, it is becoming increasingly clear that, in children of mothers with an increased body mass index (BMI), there is a high correlation with childhood cognitive disabilities, attention disorders, and diseases on the autistic spectrum. The ELGAN (Extremely Low Gestational Age Newborn) study is a multicentre study which has been supported since 2000 by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and whose objective is to research predictors for neonatal brain damage and neurological-cognitive sequelae in premature infants. The areas of focus are the connection between maternal overweight and obesity and pregnancy complications, APGAR scores and systemic inflammatory markers. In this overview, our aim is to summarise the work in this area and discuss it critically on the basis of current literature. We will examine the hypothesis whether maternal overweight and obesity in terms of a chronic inflammatory state is associated with neonatal inflammation which in turn is associated with an unfavourable development prognosis.

Key words

preterm birth - obesity - pregnancy

Full Text

References

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