Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

At a glance: The STEP trials

A round-up of the STEP phase 3 clinical trials evaluating semaglutide for weight loss in people with overweight or obesity.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Maternal and Child Health Journal
Published in: Maternal and Child Health Journal 6/2015

01-06-2015

Does Pet-Keeping Modify the Association of Delivery Mode with Offspring Body Size?

Authors: Andrea E. Cassidy-Bushrow, Ganesa Wegienka, Suzanne Havstad, Albert M. Levin, Susan V. Lynch, Dennis R. Ownby, Andrew G. Rundle, Kimberley J. Woodcroft, Edward M. Zoratti, Christine Cole Johnson

Published in: Maternal and Child Health Journal | Issue 6/2015

Login to get access

Abstract

Caesarean-section (CS) delivery increases risk of childhood obesity, and is associated with a distinct early-life gut microbiome, which may contribute to obesity. Household pets may alter human gut microbiome composition. We examined if pet-keeping modified the association of CS with obesity at age 2 years in 639 Wayne County Health, Environment, Allergy and Asthma Longitudinal Study birth cohort participants. Pet-keeping was defined as having a dog or cat (indoors ≥1 h/day) at child age 2 years. We used logistic regression to test for an interaction between CS and pet-keeping with obesity (BMI ≥ 95th percentile) at age 2 years, adjusted for maternal obesity. A total of 328 (51.3 %) children were male; 367 (57.4 %) were African American; 228 (35.7 %) were born by CS; and 55 (8.6 %) were obese. After adjusting for maternal obesity, CS-born children had a non-significant (P = 0.25) but elevated 1.4 (95 % CI 0.8, 2.5) higher odds of obesity compared to those born vaginally. There was evidence of effect modification between current pet-keeping and delivery mode with obesity at age 2 years (interaction P = 0.054). Compared to children born vaginally without a pet currently in the home, children born via CS without a pet currently in the home had a statistically significant (P = 0.043) higher odds (odds ratio 2.00; 95 % CI 1.02, 3.93) of being obese at age 2 years. Pets modified the CS–BMI relationship; whether the underlying mechanism is through effects on environmental or gut microbiome requires specific investigation.
Literature
1.
2.
Ogden, C. L., Flegal, K. M., Carroll, M. D., et al. (2002). Prevalence and trends in overweight among US children and adolescents, 1999–2000. JAMA, 288(14), 1728–1732.CrossRefPubMed
3.
Zahniser, S. C., Kendrick, J. S., Franks, A. L., et al. (1992). Trends in obstetric operative procedures, 1980 to 1987. American Journal of Public Health, 82(10), 1340–1344.CrossRefPubMedCentralPubMed
4.
Menacker, F., & Hamilton, B. E. (2010). Recent trends in cesarean delivery in the United States. NCHS Data Brief, 35, 1–8.PubMed
5.
Huh, S. Y., Rifas-Shiman, S. L., Zera, C. A., et al. (2012). Delivery by caesarean section and risk of obesity in preschool age children: A prospective cohort study. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 97(7), 610–616.CrossRefPubMedCentralPubMed
6.
Goldani, H. A., Bettiol, H., Barbieri, M. A., et al. (2011). Cesarean delivery is associated with an increased risk of obesity in adulthood in a Brazilian birth cohort study. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 93(6), 1344–1347.CrossRefPubMed
7.
8.
9.
Barros, F. C., Matijasevich, A., Hallal, P. C., et al. (2012). Cesarean section and risk of obesity in childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood: Evidence from 3 Brazilian birth cohorts. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 95(2), 465–470.CrossRefPubMedCentralPubMed
10.
Ajslev, T. A., Andersen, C. S., Gamborg, M., et al. (2011). Childhood overweight after establishment of the gut microbiota: The role of delivery mode, pre-pregnancy weight and early administration of antibiotics. International Journal of Obesity, 35(4), 522–529.CrossRefPubMed
11.
12.
13.
14.
Li, H., Zhou, Y., & Liu, J. (2013). The impact of cesarean section on offspring overweight and obesity: A systematic review and meta-analysis. International Journal of Obesity, 37(7), 893–899.CrossRefPubMed
15.
Li, H. T., Zhou, Y. B., & Liu, J. M. (2012). Cesarean section might moderately increase offspring obesity risk. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 96(1), 215–216.CrossRefPubMed
16.
Dominguez-Bello, M. G., Costello, E. K., Contreras, M., et al. (2010). Delivery mode shapes the acquisition and structure of the initial microbiota across multiple body habitats in newborns. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 107(26), 11971–11975. doi:10.​1073/​pnas.​1002601107.CrossRefPubMedCentralPubMed
17.
Azad, M. B., Konya, T., Maughan, H., et al. (2013). Gut microbiota of healthy Canadian infants: Profiles by mode of delivery and infant diet at 4 months. CMAJ, 185(5), 385–394.CrossRefPubMedCentralPubMed
18.
19.
Turnbaugh, P. J., Ley, R. E., Mahowald, M. A., et al. (2006). An obesity-associated gut microbiome with increased capacity for energy harvest. Nature, 444(7122), 1027–1031.CrossRefPubMed
20.
Kalliomaki, M., Collado, M. C., Salminen, S., et al. (2008). Early differences in fecal microbiota composition in children may predict overweight. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 87(3), 534–538.PubMed
21.
Luoto, R., Kalliomaki, M., Laitinen, K., et al. (2011). Initial dietary and microbiological environments deviate in normal-weight compared to overweight children at 10 years of age. Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, 52(1), 90–95.CrossRefPubMed
22.
Karlsson, C. L., Onnerfalt, J., Xu, J., et al. (2012). The microbiota of the gut in preschool children with normal and excessive body weight. Obesity, 20(11), 2257–2261.CrossRefPubMed
23.
24.
Wegienka, G., Johnson, C. C., Havstad, S., et al. (2011). Lifetime dog and cat exposure and dog- and cat-specific sensitization at age 18 years. Clinical and Experimental Allergy, 41(7), 979–986.CrossRefPubMedCentralPubMed
25.
Fujimura, K. E., Johnson, C. C., Ownby, D. R., et al. (2010). Man’s best friend? The effect of pet ownership on house dust microbial communities. The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 126(2), 410.CrossRefPubMedCentralPubMed
26.
Song, S. J., Lauber, C., Costello, E. K., et al. (2013). Cohabiting family members share microbiota with one another and with their dogs. eLife. doi:10.​7554/​eLife.​00458.
27.
Azad, M. B., Konya, T., Maughan, H., et al. (2013). Infant gut microbiota and the hygiene hypothesis of allergic disease: Impact of household pets and siblings on microbiota composition and diversity. Allergy, Asthma, and Clinical Immunology, 9(1), 15. doi:10.​1186/​1710-1492-9-15.CrossRefPubMedCentralPubMed
28.
Fujimura, K. E., Demoor, T., Rauch, M., et al. (2014). House dust exposure mediates gut microbiome Lactobacillus enrichment and airway immune defense against allergens and virus infection. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 111(2), 805–810. doi:10.​1073/​pnas.​1310750111.CrossRefPubMedCentralPubMed
29.
30.
Havstad, S., Wegienka, G., Zoratti, E. M., et al. (2011). Effect of prenatal indoor pet exposure on the trajectory of total IgE levels in early childhood. The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 128(4), 880–885.CrossRefPubMedCentralPubMed
31.
Wegienka, G., Havstad, S., Joseph, C. L., et al. (2011). Racial disparities in allergic outcomes in African Americans emerge as early as age 2 years. Clinical and Experimental Allergy, 42(6), 909–917. doi:10.​1111/​j.​1365-2222.​2011.​03946.​x.
32.
Oken, E., Kleinman, K. P., Rich-Edwards, J., et al. (2003). A nearly continuous measure of birth weight for gestational age using a United States national reference. BMC Pediatrics, 3, 6.CrossRefPubMedCentralPubMed
33.
Kuczmarski, R. J., Ogden, C. L., Guo, S. S., et al. (2002). 2000 CDC growth charts for the United States: Methods and development. Vital Health Statistics, 11(246), 1–190.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
Selvin, S. (1996). Statistical analysis of epidemiologic data (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
40.
Ezell, J., Cassidy-Bushrow, A., Joseph, C., et al. (2014). Prenatal dog-keeping practices vary by race—speculations on implications for disparities in childhood health and disease. Ethnicity and Disease, 24(1), 104–109.PubMedCentralPubMed
41.
42.
43.
44.
Kaplan, J. L., & Walker, W. A. (2012). Early gut colonization and subsequent obesity risk. Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care, 15(3), 278–284.CrossRefPubMed
45.
46.
47.
Salmon, J., Timperio, A., Chu, B., et al. (2010). Dog ownership, dog walking, and children’s and parents’ physical activity. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 81(3), 264–271.CrossRefPubMed
48.
Timperio, A., Salmon, J., Chu, B., et al. (2008). Is dog ownership or dog walking associated with weight status in children and their parents? Health Promotion Journal of Australia: Official Journal of Australian Association of Health Promotion Professionals, 19(1), 60–63.
49.
50.
51.
Collado, M. C., Isolauri, E., Laitinen, K., et al. (2008). Distinct composition of gut microbiota during pregnancy in overweight and normal-weight women. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 88(4), 894–899.PubMed
52.
Santacruz, A., Collado, M. C., Garcia-Valdes, L., et al. (2010). Gut microbiota composition is associated with body weight, weight gain and biochemical parameters in pregnant women. British Journal of Nutrition, 104(1), 83–92. doi:10.​1017/​s000711451000017​6.CrossRefPubMed
53.
Collado, M. C., Isolauri, E., Laitinen, K., et al. (2010). Effect of mother’s weight on infant’s microbiota acquisition, composition, and activity during early infancy: A prospective follow-up study initiated in early pregnancy. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 92(5), 1023–1030. doi:10.​3945/​ajcn.​2010.​29877.CrossRefPubMed
54.
Luoto, R., Kalliomaki, M., Laitinen, K., et al. (2010). The impact of perinatal probiotic intervention on the development of overweight and obesity: Follow-up study from birth to 10 years. International Journal of Obesity, 34(10), 1531–1537. doi:10.​1038/​ijo.​2010.​50.CrossRefPubMed
55.
56.
57.
58.
Metadata
Title
Does Pet-Keeping Modify the Association of Delivery Mode with Offspring Body Size?
Authors
Andrea E. Cassidy-Bushrow
Ganesa Wegienka
Suzanne Havstad
Albert M. Levin
Susan V. Lynch
Dennis R. Ownby
Andrew G. Rundle
Kimberley J. Woodcroft
Edward M. Zoratti
Christine Cole Johnson
Publication date
01-06-2015
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
Maternal and Child Health Journal / Issue 6/2015
Print ISSN: 1092-7875
Electronic ISSN: 1573-6628
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-014-1649-y

Other articles of this Issue 6/2015

Maternal and Child Health Journal 6/2015 Go to the issue

ReviewPaper

Prenatal Depression and Adverse Birth Outcomes: An Updated Systematic Review

OriginalPaper

Using Incentives to Encourage Smoking Abstinence Among Pregnant Indigenous Women? A Feasibility Study

OriginalPaper

Racial/Ethnic Differences in Impact of Gestational Weight Gain on Interconception Weight Change

OriginalPaper

Oral-Systemic Health During Pregnancy: Exploring Prenatal and Oral Health Providers’ Information, Motivation and Behavioral Skills

Commentary

New Dialogue for the Way Forward in Maternal Health: Addressing Market Inefficiencies

OriginalPaper

Predictors of Developmental Status in Young Children Living in Institutional Care in Kazakhstan