Maternal and Paternal Height and Sex-Specific Offspring Linear Growth From Second Trimester to Mid-Childhood

Abstract

Background: Offspring height and linear growth rate is known to be associated with parental height; the strength of this association may not be constant. Aim: To study the associations of parental height with sex-specific offspring length/height changes in utero through mid-childhood. Methods: We analyzed data from 1395 participants in Project Viva, a prospective cohort study of pregnant women and their children. Multivariable linear regression models were used to examine associations of maternal and paternal height with offspring length/height change during growth periods beginning during the 2nd trimester and extending into mid-childhood (median age 7.7). Offspring sex-specific analysis was performed. Results: Among female and male offspring combined, for every z-score increment in maternal height, offspring length z-score from 2nd trimester to birth increased by 0.14 (95% C.I. 0.09, 0.20). For paternal height the increase was 0.11 (0.05, 0.16). In this same age period, models stratified by sex showed a stronger maternal than paternal association for female offspring (maternal 0.21 [0.11, 0.31], paternal 0.08 [-0.01, 0.17]), but not for males (maternal 0.10 [0.03, 0.18], paternal 0.14 [0.06, 0.22]). Parental height was a weaker predictor of later linear growth; for height change from early to mid-childhood, maternal and paternal height effect estimates were 0.07 (0.04, 0.10) and 0.06 (0.03, 0.09), respectively. Conclusions: Parental height effects on linear growth rates are greatest during early stages of development. Among female offspring, maternal height was more strongly associated with prenatal linear growth than was paternal height.