Parental preconception BMI trajectories from childhood to adolescence and asthma in the future offspring

Gayan Bowatte; Dinh S Bui; Sajith Priyankara; Adrian J Lowe; Jennifer L Perret; Caroline J Lodge; Garun S Hamilton; Bircan Erbas; Paul Thomas; Bruce Thompson; Vivi Schlünssen; David Martino; John W Holloway; Cecilie Svanes; Michael J Abramson; E Haydn Walters; Shyamali C Dharmage

doi:10.1016/j.jaci.2021.11.028

Parental preconception BMI trajectories from childhood to adolescence and asthma in the future offspring

J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2022 Jul;150(1):67-74.e30. doi: 10.1016/j.jaci.2021.11.028. Epub 2022 Jan 8.

Authors

Gayan Bowatte¹, Dinh S Bui², Sajith Priyankara³, Adrian J Lowe², Jennifer L Perret², Caroline J Lodge², Garun S Hamilton⁴, Bircan Erbas⁵, Paul Thomas⁶, Bruce Thompson⁷, Vivi Schlünssen⁸, David Martino⁹, John W Holloway¹⁰, Cecilie Svanes¹¹, Michael J Abramson¹², E Haydn Walters¹³, Shyamali C Dharmage¹⁴

Affiliations

¹ Allergy and Lung Health Unit, Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia; Department of Basic Sciences, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.
² Allergy and Lung Health Unit, Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
³ Department of Basic Sciences, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka; Department of Mathematics & Statistics, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Tex.
⁴ Monash Lung, Sleep, Allergy and Immunology, Monash Health, Clayton, Australia; School of Clinical Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
⁵ School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Australia.
⁶ Prince of Wales' Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
⁷ School of Health Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia.
⁸ Department of Public Health, Danish Ramazzini Center, Aarhus University and the National Research Center for the Working Environment, Copenhagen, Denmark.
⁹ Wal-yan Respiratory Research Centre, Telethon Kids Institute, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia.
¹⁰ Human Development and Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom.
¹¹ Centre for International Health, Department of Global Public Health and Primary Care, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway; Department of Occupational Medicine, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway.
¹² School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
¹³ Allergy and Lung Health Unit, Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia; School of Medicine, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia.
¹⁴ Allergy and Lung Health Unit, Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia. Electronic address: s.dharmage@unimelb.edu.au.

PMID: 35007625
DOI: 10.1016/j.jaci.2021.11.028

Abstract

Background: Recent evidence suggests that parental exposures before conception can increase the risk of asthma in offspring.

Objective: We investigated the association between parents' preconception body mass index (BMI) trajectories from childhood to adolescence and subsequent risk of asthma in their offspring.

Methods: Using group-based trajectory modeling from the Tasmanian Longitudinal Health Study, we identified BMI trajectories for index participants (parents) when aged 4 years to 15 years. Multinomial regression models adjusted for potential confounders were utilized to estimate the association between these early-life parents' BMI trajectories and asthma phenotypes in their subsequent offspring.

Results: The main analysis included 1822 parents and 4208 offspring. Four BMI trajectories from age 4 years to 15 years were identified as the best-fitting model: low (8.8%), normal (44.1%), above normal (40.2%), and high (7.0%). Associations were observed between father's high BMI trajectory and risk of asthma in offspring before the age of 10 years (relative risk ratio [RRR] =1.70 [95% CI = 0.98-2.93]) and also asthma ever (RRR = 1.72 [95% CI = 1.00-2.97]), especially allergic asthma ever (RRR = 2.05 [95% CI = 1.12-3.72]). These associations were not mediated by offspring birth weight. No associations were observed for maternal BMI trajectories and offspring asthma phenotypes.

Conclusion: This cohort study over 6 decades of life and across 2 generations suggests that the high BMI trajectory in fathers, well before conception, increased the risk of asthma in their offspring.

Keywords: Body mass index; asthma; epigenetics; intergenerational; preconception; transgenerational.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Asthma* / epidemiology
Body Mass Index
Child
Cohort Studies
Humans
Longitudinal Studies
Parents
Risk Factors