The aim of the study was to examine the association of existing diabetes (i.e. already diagnosed prior to pregnancy), gestational diabetes and glycosuria (both diagnosed and ascertained during pregnancy) with birthweight and future offspring BMI, waist circumference and fat mass (assessed by dual x-ray emission absorptiometry).

A prospective pregnancy/birth cohort study was performed using data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children.

Among 10,591 mother–offspring pairs included in analyses with birth size, women with existing diabetes (n = 40), those diagnosed with gestational diabetes (n = 53) and those with at least two episodes of ++ glycosuria (n = 372) had greater mean birthweight and odds for macrosomia (birthweight > 4,000 g) than women with none of these. Adjusted odds ratios for macrosomia were 3.56 (95% CI 1.53–8.28), 5.50 (95% CI 1.18–10.30) and 1.58 (95% CI 1.18–2.12) for existing diabetes, gestational diabetes and glycosuria, respectively. Among 6,842 mother–offspring pairs with anthropometric measurements at age 9–11 years, maternal gestational diabetes and glycosuria (but not existing diabetes) were associated with increased offspring odds of general or central overweight/obesity. For gestational diabetes, these associations attenuated towards the null with adjustment for maternal prepregnancy BMI, but independent associations remained for glycosuria. The adjusted odds ratio for general overweight/obesity when comparing women with at least two episodes of ++ glycosuria with those with no evidence of diabetes or glycosuria was 1.35 (95% CI 1.00–1.82) and that for central obesity (top 10% waist circumference vs all others) was 1.31 (95% CI 1.00–1.72).

These results provide some evidence for a long-term effect of maternal glycaemia in pregnancy on offspring obesity risk.