Associations between maternal metabolic conditions and neurodevelopmental conditions in offspring: the mediating effects of obstetric and neonatal complications

BACKGROUND: Maternal pre-gestational diabetes (PGDM), gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), and overweight/obesity have been associated with increased risks of offspring neurodevelopmental conditions (NDCs) including autism, intellectual disability (ID), and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Less is known about whether and how obstetric and neonatal complications (e.g., preterm birth, neonatal asphyxia) could mediate these associations. METHODS: In this Swedish register-based cohort study, we examined complications during pregnancy, delivery, and the neonatal period as potential mediators of the relationships between maternal metabolic conditions and offspring NDCs. We quantified the extent to which these obstetric and neonatal factors could mediate the associations of maternal metabolic conditions with offspring NDCs by applying parametric regression models for single mediation analyses and weighting-based methods for multiple mediation analyses under counterfactual frameworks. RESULTS: The study sample included 2,352,969 singleton children born to 1,299,692 mothers from 1987–2010 who were followed up until December 31, 2016, of whom 135,832 children (5.8%) were diagnosed with at least one NDC. A substantial portion of the association between maternal PGDM and children’s odds of NDCs could be explained by the combined group of obstetric and neonatal complications in the multiple mediation analysis. For instance, these complications explained 44.4% of the relationship between maternal PGDM and offspring ID risk. The proportion of the relationship between maternal overweight/obesity and children’s risk of NDCs that could be explained by obstetric and neonatal complications was considerably smaller, ranging from 1.5 to 8.1%. Some complications considered on their own, including pregnancy hypertensive diseases, preterm birth, neonatal asphyxia, and hematological comorbidities, could explain at least 10% of the associations between maternal PGDM and offspring NDCs. Complications during the neonatal period showed a stronger joint mediating effect for the relationship between PGDM and offspring NDCs than those during pregnancy or delivery. CONCLUSIONS: Obstetric and neonatal complications could explain nearly half of the association between maternal PGDM and offspring risk of NDCs. The mediating effects were more pronounced for complications during the neonatal period and for specific complications such as pregnancy hypertensive diseases, preterm birth, neonatal asphyxia, and hematological comorbidities. Effective preventive strategies for offspring NDCs should holistically address both the primary metabolic issues related to PGDM and the wide array of potential complications, especially those in the neonatal period. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT: [Image: see text] SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12916-023-03116-x.