Gestational diabetes combined with prenatal depression linked to higher childhood obesity risk

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2026-02-19 03:00

International

Photo by Juan Encalada on Unsplash

Children whose mothers had both gestational diabetes and depression during pregnancy are more likely to develop childhood obesity, according to international research. The team studied over 200,000 mother-child pairs to investigate how gestational diabetes and prenatal depression separately and together influenced the risk of childhood obesity up to age 10. Over the study period, 14.6% of the children had obesity at age 2-5, 16.5% at age 5-8 and 21.8% at 8-10. There was only a small link between depression alone and obesity, the researchers say, but the link between gestational diabetes and obesity was stronger - ranging from a 29-45% increased risk at different stages of childhood. Combined exposure to both prenatal depression and gestational diabetes was linked to an even higher risk, ranging from 33-54%, the researchers say.

News release

From: JAMA

Joint and Independent Associations of Gestational Diabetes and Depression With Childhood Obesity

About The Study: In this cohort study, both prenatal depression and gestational diabetes were associated with childhood obesity risk, with larger effect sizes observed for gestational diabetes. Children exposed to both conditions had the greatest risk, although associations appeared additive rather than synergistic. These findings underscore the need for universal prenatal screening and risk stratification, along with targeted interventions for children exposed to these conditions.

Attachments

Note: Not all attachments are visible to the general public. Research URLs will go live after the embargo ends.

Research JAMA, Web page The URL will go live after the embargo ends

Journal/
conference: JAMA Network Open

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Kaiser Permanente Northern California, USA

Funder: Funding was obtained by Kaiser Permanente Community Health Grant RNG212851 (principal investigator Dr Peterson) and Kaiser Permanente’s Center for Upstream Prevention of Adiposity and Diabetes Mellitus.

Media Contact/s

Contact details are only visible to registered journalists.