Identifying prenatal and postnatal determinants of infant growth: a structural equation modelling based cohort analysis

Morgan, Kelly ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8685-1177, Zhou, Shang-Ming, Hill, Rebecca, Lyons, Ronan, Paranjothy, Shantini and Brophy, Sinead 2021. Identifying prenatal and postnatal determinants of infant growth: a structural equation modelling based cohort analysis. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18 (19) , 10265. 10.3390/ijerph181910265

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Abstract

Background: The growth and maturation of infants reflect their overall health and nutritional status. The purpose of this study is to examine the associations of prenatal and early postnatal factors with infant growth (IG). Methods: A data-driven model was constructed by structural equation modelling to examine the relationships between pre- and early postnatal environmental factors and IG at age 12 months. The IG was a latent variable created from infant weight and waist circumference. Data were obtained on 274 mother–child pairs during pregnancy and the postnatal periods. Results: Maternal pre-pregnancy BMI emerged as an important predictor of IG with both direct and indirect (mediated through infant birth weight) effects. Infants who gained more weight from birth to 6 months and consumed starchy foods daily at age 12 months, were more likely to be larger by age 12 months. Infant physical activity (PA) levels also emerged as a determinant. The constructed model provided a reasonable fit (χ2 (11) = 21.5, p < 0.05; RMSEA = 0.07; CFI = 0.94; SRMR = 0.05) to the data with significant pathways for all examined variables. Conclusion: Promoting healthy weight amongst women of child bearing age is important in preventing childhood obesity, and increasing daily infant PA is as important as a healthy infant diet.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education) Development and Evaluation of Complex Interventions for Public Health Improvement (DECIPHer)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Additional Information:	This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/
Publisher:	MDPI
ISSN:	1660-4601
Funders:	Centre for the Development and Evaluation of Complex Interventions for Public Health Improvement (DECIPHer), a UKCRC Public Health Research Centre of Excellence via joint funding (MR/KO232331/1) from the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Econo, National Centre for Population Health and Wellbeing Research (NCPHWR) via Health and Care Research Wales (grant ref. CA02), Farr Institute of Health Informatics Research (MR/K006525/1) and Health Data Research UK (NIWA1)
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	29 September 2021
Date of Acceptance:	26 September 2021
Last Modified:	09 May 2023 05:46
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/144536

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