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Association between maternal polycystic ovary syndrome and early childhood growth: a continuous observation from 3 months to 6 years of age

  • Reproductive Physiology and Disease
  • Published:
Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

A Correction to this article was published on 31 January 2022

This article has been updated

Abstract

Purpose

To investigate whether maternal PCOS could impact growth and development in offspring at an early age through continuous observation from age 3 months to 6 years.

Methods

This prospective study was conducted in 198 children born to mothers with PCOS and 227 children born to healthy mothers in Ningbo (Zhejiang Province, China) between October 2012 and July 2015. Measurements of offspring height, weight, head circumference, and teething were examined by trained professionals through age 6 years. Height, weight, and body mass index (BMI) were analysed using repeated measures analysis of variance between the PCOS and control groups.

Results

Offspring born to women with PCOS showed significantly higher BMI at age 12, 18, and 30 months and 5 years (P = 0.040, P = 0.000, P = 0.000, and P = 0.023, respectively). Female offspring born to women with PCOS showed significantly increased body weight at 3, 8, 12, 18, and 30 months, and 3 and 6 years (P = 0.027, P = 0.008, P = 0.010, P = 0.034, P = 0.047, P = 0.040, and P = 0.035, respectively) and significantly higher BMI at 3, 8, 12, 18, and 30 months (P = 0.009, P = 0.016, P = 0.029, P = 0.000, and P = 0.000, respectively). After adjusting for maternal, paternal, and pregnancy confounders, PCOS status presented significant associations with weight at age 3, 8, and 12 months and 3 years (P = 0.005, P = 0.004, P = 0.021, P = 0.035 respectively), and with BMI at age 3 and 8 months (P = 0.011 and P = 0.014) in female offspring.

Conclusions

Maternal PCOS is associated with an increased risk of developing obesity in female offspring.

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Data Availability

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this article.

Code availability

Not applicable.

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Funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81874480; 82074476; 81873837), and the Zhejiang Province Science Foundation for Key Program (LZ21H270001).

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Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. FF ZHANG, LY Ying, Q Zhang, and FF Wang performed the research. FF Zhang, LY Ying, Q Zhang, and F QU analysed the data. FF Zhang, LY Ying, and F QU wrote the manuscript. All authors contributed to editorial changes in the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fan Qu.

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Ethics approval

The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Women’s Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, and the Ethics Committee of the Second Hospital of Yinzhou District, Ningbo, China.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Not applicable.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

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Zhang, F., Ying, L., Zhang, Q. et al. Association between maternal polycystic ovary syndrome and early childhood growth: a continuous observation from 3 months to 6 years of age. J Assist Reprod Genet 39, 461–471 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-021-02378-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-021-02378-9

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