# name
Maternal BMI at the start of pregnancy and offspring
                epigenome-wide DNA methylation: findings from the pregnancy and
                childhood epigenetics (PACE) consortium

# metadata.dc.description.abstract[].value
Pre-pregnancy maternal obesity is associated with adverse
                offspring outcomes at birth and later in life. Individual
                studies have shown that epigenetic modifications such as DNA
                methylation could contribute. Within the Pregnancy and Childhood
                Epigenetics (PACE) Consortium, we meta-analysed the association
                between pre-pregnancy maternal BMI and methylation at over
                450,000 sites in newborn blood DNA, across 19 cohorts (9,340
                mother-newborn pairs). We attempted to infer causality by
                comparing the effects of maternal versus paternal BMI and
                incorporating genetic variation. In four additional cohorts
                (1,817 mother-child pairs), we meta-analysed the association
                between maternal BMI at the start of pregnancy and blood
                methylation in adolescents. In newborns, maternal BMI was
                associated with small (<0.2% per BMI unit (1 kg/m2), P <
                1.06 x 10-7) methylation variation at 9,044 sites throughout the
                genome. Adjustment for estimated cell proportions greatly
                attenuated the number of significant CpGs to 104, including 86
                sites common to the unadjusted model. At 72/86 sites, the
                direction of the association was the same in newborns and
                adolescents, suggesting persistence of signals. However, we
                found evidence for acausal intrauterine effect of maternal BMI
                on newborn methylation at just 8/86 sites. In conclusion, this
                well-powered analysis identified robust associations between
                maternal adiposity and variations in newborn blood DNA
                methylation, but these small effects may be better explained by
                genetic or lifestyle factors than a causal intrauterine
                mechanism. This highlights the need for large-scale
                collaborative approaches and the application of causal inference
                techniques in epigenetic epidemiology.

# metadata.dc.relation.isformatof[].value
Reproducció del document publicat a:
                http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/hmg/ddx290

# metadata.dc.source[].value
Articles publicats en revistes (ISGlobal)

# metadata.dc.title[].value
Maternal BMI at the start of pregnancy and offspring
                epigenome-wide DNA methylation: findings from the pregnancy and
                childhood epigenetics (PACE) consortium