The Protective Effect of Prenatal Social Support on Infant Adiposity in the First 18 Months of Life.
OBJECTIVE
To determine whether prenatal social support was associated with infant adiposity in the first 18 months of life in a low-income, Hispanic sample, known to be at high risk of early child obesity.


STUDY DESIGN
We performed a longitudinal analysis of 262 low-income, Hispanic mother-infant pairs in the control group of the Starting Early child obesity prevention trial. Prenatal social support was measured using an item from the Maternal Social Support Index. We used multilevel modeling to predict weight-for-length z-score trajectories from birth to age 18 months and logistic regression to predict macrosomia and overweight status at ages 6, 12, and 18 months.


RESULTS
High prenatal social support was independently associated with lower infant adiposity trajectories from birth to age 18 months (B = -0.40; 95% CI, -0.63 to -0.16), a lower odds of macrosomia (aOR = 0.35; 95% CI, 0.15-0.80), and a lower odds of overweight at ages 12 (aOR = 0.28; 95% CI, 0.10-0.74) and 18 months (aOR = 0.35; 95% CI, 0.14-0.89). Prenatal social support was not significantly associated with overweight status at age 6 months.


CONCLUSIONS
Prenatal social support may protect against excessive infant adiposity and overweight in low-income, Hispanic families. Further research is needed to elucidate mechanisms underlying these associations and to inform preventive strategies beginning in pregnancy.
['Katzow|Michelle|M|', 'Messito|Mary Jo|MJ|', 'Mendelsohn|Alan L|AL|', 'Scott|Marc A|MA|', 'Gross|Rachel S|RS|']
D050154:Adiposity D000367:Age Factors D001724:Birth Weight D015992:Body Mass Index D015331:Cohort Studies D005260:Female D006630:Hispanic or Latino D006801:Humans D007223:Infant D007231:Infant, Newborn D016015:Logistic Models D008137:Longitudinal Studies D008297:Male D015999:Multivariate Analysis D050177:Overweight D063766:Pediatric Obesity D011203:Poverty D011247:Pregnancy D011295:Prenatal Care D011322:Primary Prevention D018570:Risk Assessment D012737:Sex Factors D012944:Social Support
hispanic obesity prevention pregnancy childhood obesity infancy