Our study is the first analysis on the association between maternal sleep duration during pregnancy and later childhood health. We used data from two ethnical and demographical diverse European cohorts and found that gestational sleep deprivation may be associated with increased risk for overweight and higher blood pressure in offspring, up until the age of 11 years, with more pronounced significant effects in girls
than boys. Gestational diabetes and gestational age partly mediated these effects, pointing to altered glucose metabolism and inflammatory pathways as possible biological mechanisms underlying the observed associations.
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