Effects of Elevated Maternal Adiposity on Offspring Reproductive Health: A Perspective From Epidemiologic Studies

One in seven couples in developed countries suffers from infertility. Maternal overweight or obesity have detrimental and lasting effects on offspring cardiometabolic health, and although substantially more data are needed, hormonal imbalances in utero resulting from excessive maternal adiposity could also disrupt reproductive programming and affect the future reproductive health of offspring. Therefore, this mini-review evaluates the human epidemiologic evidence that maternal overweight/obesity could be associated with poor reproductive health outcomes in offspring. We searched PubMed for relevant studies using terms such as “maternal obesity” and “reproductive development.” While the human epidemiologic literature is limited, studies have thus far observed that maternal obesity is associated with disrupted external genital development and several other markers of reproductive health across the lifespan. Specifically, maternal obesity is associated with higher risks of hypospadias and cryptorchidism in males and disrupted anogenital distance both in males and females. Maternal obesity has also been linked to earlier age at menarche in daughters, and precocious puberty in both sons and daughters. Finally, daughters of women with overweight or obesity have higher risks of developing polycystic ovarian syndrome, which has implications for fertility. This body of research suggests that in utero exposure to maternal obesity could disrupt reproductive system development, but substantially more evidence is needed, as almost no human epidemiologic studies have evaluated the long-term consequences of maternal obesity with regard to offspring fertility/fecundity.