Parental population exposure to historical socioeconomic and political periods and grand-child’s birth weight in the Lifeways Cross-Generation Cohort Study in the Republic of Ireland

Exposure to deprived socioeconomic conditions during the peri-conception and early childhood periods can have a negative long-term impact on individuals’ health and that of their progeny. We aimed to examine whether relatives’ birth period affected index-child (grand-child) birthweight status in the Lifeways Cross-Generation Cohort in the Republic of Ireland. Participants were 943 mothers and offspring, 890 fathers, 938 maternal grandmothers (MGM), 700 maternal grandfathers (MGF) 537 paternal grandmothers (PGM) and 553 paternal grandfathers (PGF). Index-child’s birthweight was sex-for-gestational age standardised (UK1990 population), and then classified into low birthweight (≤10th percentile) and high-birthweight (≥90th percentile) and compared against normal-birthweight (>10th to <90th percentiles). Four adult birth periods were considered: The Free State (FS, 1916-1938); Emergency Act (EA, 1939-1946); Post-World War-II Baby-Boom (PWWII-BB, 1947-1964); and Modern Ireland (MI, 1964 onwards). Logistic regression was used to assess the crude and adjusted relationship between index-child’s birthweight status and relatives’ birth periods. Overall, there were 8.7% (n=82) index-children in the low-birthweight category, 77.9% (n=735) and 13.4% (n=126) within the normal and high birthweight groups respectively. Index-children whose mothers were born during the PWWII-BB had higher birthweight infants (Crude OR(COR)=1.81 (1.08–3.03) which remained the case only for male index-children when adjusted for co-variables (Adjusted OR(AOR)=4.61(1.71–12.42)). Parents’ combined PWWII-BB birth period was positively associated with male index-child higher birthweight, even adjusted for maternal characteristics (AOR=4.60(1.69–12.50)). MGFs born during the EA were more likely to have grandchildren with low birthweight after adjustment for maternal characteristics (AOR=2.45(1.03-5.85)), particularly for female index-children (AOR=4.74(1.16–19.25)). Both PGMs and PGFs born during the FS period had higher birthweight grandchildren, adjusted for maternal-related co-variables (PGM, AOR=3.23(1.21–8.63); PGF, AOR=3.93(1.11–13.96)), with the effect of PGM more evident in her granddaughter (AOR=6.53(1.25–34.04)). In conclusion, there is some evidence that period of grandparental birth is associated with their grandchildren’s birthweights, suggesting that transgenerational exposures may be particular to historical context, meriting further exploration.