Wellbeing of Women

Dunger

2001, Addenbrookes Hospital, Dunger, Macdougall,

Do the mother's genes affect the size of the baby?

Professor David Dunger & Miss M J Macdougall, Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge - £75,718.00 over 24 months.

Birthweight not only influences health in infancy and childhood but also in adulthood. For example, low birthweight is a major risk factor for early death from cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

Birthweight is strongly influenced by factors relating to the mother. Mothers with gestational diabetes are at risk of having overgrown babies, and this risk is directly related to the level of her blood sugars during pregnancy. This study will investigate whether mothers' genes, which influence mothers' sugar levels; also affect the size of her baby. The study will aid our understanding of the regulation of infant birth size, with possible important benefits towards the prevention of intrauterine growth retardation and fetal overgrowth and the health consequences thereof.