# Transgenerational Effects of Maternal Obesity on Pregnancy Outcomes and Infant Health

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · 2021 · $189,691

## Abstract

Maternal overweight and obesity have displaced smoking as some of the most significant risk factors for adverse
pregnancy, perinatal, and infant outcomes in many high-income countries, including the United States. Recent
evidence suggests that the effects of maternal obesity on birth weight can extend to the grandoffspring, but the
studies have not had sufficiently large samples to examine dose-response associations with grandmaternal
obesity severity, to include the most critical neonatal and infant outcomes such as survival and morbidity, or to
interrogate potential mechanistic pathways. Using linkage of nation-wide registries, we propose to conduct a
population-based cohort study of 220,000 singleton children born 1999-2016 in Sweden, to examine the
associations of grandmaternal overweight and obesity severity with the risks of grandoffspring neonatal and
infant mortality, stillbirth, fetal growth, length of gestation, and infant morbidity. We will implement causal
mediation analysis to estimate the proportion of the associations that may be mediated through offspring’s
parental characteristics, including maternal overweight and obesity; and will have an opportunity to explore the
potential role of both maternal and paternal grandmaternal exposures. The Swedish nationwide registries
constitute the largest and most complete data source worldwide to address these questions.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10284626
- **Project number:** 1R21HD106203-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR
- **Principal Investigator:** EDUARDO VILLAMOR
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $189,691
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-09-22 → 2023-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10284626

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10284626, Transgenerational Effects of Maternal Obesity on Pregnancy Outcomes and Infant Health (1R21HD106203-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10284626. Licensed CC0.

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