Findings from Duke University Broaden Understanding of Managed Care [Maternal Stress and Early Childhood Bmi Among Us Children From the Environmental Influences On Child Health Outcomes (Echo) Program]: Managed Care

2024 APR 03 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Researchers detail new data in Managed Care. According to news reporting from Durham, North Carolina, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “We aimed to understand the association between maternal stress in the first year of life and childhood body mass index (BMI) from 2 to 4 years of age in a large, prospective United States-based consortium of cohorts.Methods We used data from the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes program. The main exposure was maternal stress in the first year of life measured with the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS).”

Financial support for this research came from National Institutes of Health (NIH) - USA.

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from Duke University, “The main outcome was the first childhood BMI percentile after age 2 until age 4 years. We used an adjusted linear mixed effects model to examine associations between BMI and PSS quartile.Results The mean BMI percentile in children was 59.8 (SD 30) measured at 3.0 years (SD 1) on average. In both crude models and models adjusted for maternal BMI, age, race, ethnicity, infant birthweight, and health insurance status, no linear associations were observed between maternal stress and child BMI.Conclusions Among 1694 maternal-infant dyads, we found no statistically significant relationships between maternal perceived stress in the first year of life and child BMI after 2 through 4 years.Impact Although existing literature suggests relationships between parental stress and childhood BMI, we found no linear associations between maternal stress in the first year of life and childhood BMI at 2-4 years of age among participants in ECHO cohorts. Higher maternal stress was significantly associated with Hispanic ethnicity, Black race, and public health insurance.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Our analysis of a large, nationally representative sample challenges assumptions that maternal stress in the first year of life, as measured by a widely used scale, is associated with offspring BMI.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Maternal Stress and Early Childhood Bmi Among Us Children From the Environmental Influences On Child Health Outcomes (Echo) Program. Pediatric Research, 2023;94(6):2085-2091. Pediatric Research can be contacted at: Springernature, Campus, 4 Crinan St, London, N1 9XW, England. (Nature Publishing Group - http://www.nature.com/; Pediatric Research - http://www.nature.com/pr/)

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Charles T. Wood, Duke University, School of Medicine, Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Health, Durham, NC 27708, United States. Additional authors for this research include Marie L. Churchill, Monica McGrath, Judy Aschner, Steven M. Brunwasser, Sarah Geiger, Semsa Gogcu, Tina V. Hartert, Allison E. Hipwell, Kathleen Lee-Sarwar, Kristen Lyall, Nora K. Moog, Thomas G. O’Connor, T. Michael O’Shea, P. Brian Smith, Rosalind J. Wright, Xueying Zhang, Emily Zimmerman, Kathi C. Huddleston and Callie L. Brown.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-023-02750-8. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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