Associations among prenatal exposure to gestational diabetes mellitus, brain structure, and child adiposity markers

Shan Luo; Eustace Hsu; Katherine E Lawrence; Shana Adise; Trevor A Pickering; Megan M Herting; Thomas Buchanan; Kathleen A Page; Paul M Thompson

doi:10.1002/oby.23901

Associations among prenatal exposure to gestational diabetes mellitus, brain structure, and child adiposity markers

Obesity (Silver Spring). 2023 Nov;31(11):2699-2708. doi: 10.1002/oby.23901. Epub 2023 Oct 16.

Authors

Shan Luo^{1

2

3

4}, Eustace Hsu¹, Katherine E Lawrence⁵, Shana Adise^{4

6}, Trevor A Pickering⁷, Megan M Herting^{7

8

9}, Thomas Buchanan^{1

2}, Kathleen A Page^{1

2

9}, Paul M Thompson^{5

9}

Affiliations

¹ Division of Endocrinology and Diabetes, Department of Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
² Diabetes and Obesity Research Institute, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
³ Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
⁴ Center for Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA.
⁵ Imaging Genetics Center, Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
⁶ Division of Research on Children, Youth, and Families, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA.
⁷ Department of Population and Public Health Sciences, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
⁸ Department of Pediatrics, Keck School of Medicine of University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
⁹ Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA.

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the mediating role of child brain structure in the relationship between prenatal gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) exposure and child adiposity.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of 9- to 10-year-old participants and siblings across the US. Data were obtained from the baseline assessment of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study®. Brain structure was evaluated by magnetic resonance imaging. GDM exposure was self-reported, and discordance for GDM exposure within biological siblings was identified. Mixed effects and mediation models were used to examine associations among prenatal GDM exposure, brain structure, and adiposity markers with sociodemographic covariates.

Results: The sample included 8521 children (7% GDM-exposed), among whom there were 28 sibling pairs discordant for GDM exposure. Across the entire study sample, prenatal exposure to GDM was associated with lower global and regional cortical gray matter volume (GMV) in the bilateral rostral middle frontal gyrus and superior temporal gyrus. GDM-exposed siblings also demonstrated lower global cortical GMV than unexposed siblings. Global cortical GMV partially mediated the associations between prenatal GDM exposure and child adiposity markers.

Conclusions: The results identify brain markers of prenatal GDM exposure and suggest that low cortical GMV may explain increased obesity risk for offspring prenatally exposed to GDM.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

Adiposity
Adolescent
Body Mass Index
Brain / diagnostic imaging
Child
Cross-Sectional Studies
Diabetes, Gestational*
Female
Humans
Obesity
Pregnancy
Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects*

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding