Prospective associations of parental smoking, alcohol use, marital status, maternal satisfaction, and parental and childhood body mass index at 6.5 years with later problematic eating attitudes

K H Wade; O Skugarevsky; M S Kramer; R Patel; N Bogdanovich; K Vilchuck; N Sergeichick; R Richmond; T Palmer; G Davey Smith; M Gillman; E Oken; R M Martin

doi:10.1038/nutd.2013.40

Prospective associations of parental smoking, alcohol use, marital status, maternal satisfaction, and parental and childhood body mass index at 6.5 years with later problematic eating attitudes

Nutr Diabetes. 2014 Jan 6;4(1):e100. doi: 10.1038/nutd.2013.40.

Authors

K H Wade¹, O Skugarevsky², M S Kramer³, R Patel⁴, N Bogdanovich⁵, K Vilchuck⁵, N Sergeichick⁵, R Richmond¹, T Palmer⁴, G Davey Smith¹, M Gillman⁶, E Oken⁶, R M Martin⁷

Affiliations

¹ 1] School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK [2] Medical Research Council (MRC)/University of Bristol Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU), University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
² Psychiatry and Medical Psychology Department, Belarusian State Medical University, Minsk, Belarus.
³ Department of Pediatrics and Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health, McGill University Faculty of Medicine, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
⁴ School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
⁵ The National Research and Applied Medicine Mother and Child Centre, Minsk, Belarus.
⁶ Obesity Prevention Program, Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Boston, MA, USA.
⁷ 1] School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK [2] Medical Research Council (MRC)/University of Bristol Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU), University of Bristol, Bristol, UK [3] Bristol Biomedical Research Unit in Nutrition, National Institute for Health Research, Bristol, UK.

Abstract

Background: Few studies have prospectively investigated whether early-life exposures are associated with pre-adolescent eating attitudes.

Objective: The objective of this study is to prospectively investigate associations of parental smoking, alcohol use, marital status, measures of maternal satisfaction, self-reported parental body mass index (BMI) and clinically measured childhood BMI, assessed between birth and 6.5 years, with problematic eating attitudes at 11.5 years.

Methods: Observational cohort analysis nested within the Promotion of Breastfeeding Intervention Trial, a cluster-randomised trial conducted in 31 maternity hospitals and affiliated polyclinics in Belarus. Our primary outcome was a Children's Eating Attitudes Test (ChEAT) score 22.5 (85th percentile), an indicator of problematic eating attitudes. We employed multivariable mixed logistic regression models, which allow inference at the individual level. We also performed instrumental variable (IV) analysis using parents' BMIs as instruments for the child's BMI, to assess whether associations could be explained by residual confounding or reverse causation.

Subjects: Of the 17 046 infants enrolled between 1996 and 1997 across Belarus, 13 751 (80.7%) completed the ChEAT test at 11.5 years.

Results: In fully adjusted models, overweight children at age 6.5 years had a 2.14-fold (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.82, 2.52) increased odds of having ChEAT scores 85th percentile at age 11.5 years, and those who were obese had a 3.89-fold (95% CI: 2.95, 5.14) increased odds compared with normal-weight children. Children of mothers or fathers who were themselves overweight or obese were more likely to score 85th percentile (P for trend 0.001). IV analysis was consistent with a child's BMI causally affecting future eating attitudes. There was little evidence that parental smoking, alcohol use, or marital status or maternal satisfaction were associated with eating attitudes.

Conclusion: In our large, prospective cohort in Belarus, both parental and childhood overweight and obesity at 6.5 years were associated with pre-adolescent problematic eating attitudes 5 years later.

Abstract

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