Birth with synthetic oxytocin and the risk of being overweight or obese during childhood

BACKGROUND: Despite the importance of oxytocinergic signalling for satiety regulation and energy balance, the impact of exposure to synthetic oxytocin during childbirth on obesity during childhood remains unknown.

OBJECTIVES: To examine the association between oxytocin exposure during labour and the risk of being overweight or obese during childhood.

METHODS: Synthetic oxytocin exposure data of mothers from the Danish Medical Birth Registry were linked with self-reported anthropometric data of their children from the Danish National Birth Cohort (5 months-11 years of age). Multinomial logistic regression and latent class growth analyses were performed to determine the association between oxytocin exposure and obesity during childhood.

RESULTS: With the exception of the normal weight-to-overweight group between ages 5 and 12 months, none of the other analyses revealed a significant association between synthetic oxytocin use and the risk of being overweight until the age of 11 years. Furthermore, latent class growth analysis did not reveal an association between oxytocin exposure at birth and the risk of being overweight or obese during childhood.

CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis of a large cohort of children who varied in their synthetic oxytocin exposure status at childbirth did not reveal an association between oxytocin exposure and the risk of childhood overweight/obesity.