Association between maternal weight gain and dietary supplement intake during pregnancy and ADHD in their offspring.

Introduction: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is increasingly affecting children and adolescents globally. ADHD has three major types: I=inattention, H=hyperactive, C=combined. It has been recently noticed that various factors during pregnancy and neonatal period could affect incidence of ADHD and types of it. Present study aimed to find the association between maternal weight gain and dietary supplement intake during pregnancy and ADHD in their offspring. Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on 384 children and adolescents, 1 to 18 years, referring to the psychologic clinics for the first time in Tabriz, Iran from January 2017 to January 2018. DSM-IV-TR was used for diagnosis by specialized psychologist. Type of ADHD was determined using Conners questionnaire. Questionnaires about pregnancy information were completed by mothers. Data were analyzed using SPSS software. Results: Data analysis revealed that weight gain during pregnancy among mothers was 12 /8±7 /6kg (mean±SD). Adjusting for pre-pregnancy BMI and age, 72% of mothers gained weight more than required amount. 75/9 percentage of mothers (n=290) reported daily consumption of folic acid and Iron supplements during pregnancy. 11.5 percentage (n=43) used multivitamins and less than 5 percentage reported consuming Ca, Mg, ꞷ-3 and Prenatal capsules. Conducting ANCOVA test we found that neither weight gains nor supplement intake did not differ significantly among the three types of ADHD. Conclusion: Additional weight gain during pregnancy is well established to be able to have negative outcomes from different aspects for both mother and the child. It is interesting to know that it can have harmful effects on offspring brain function and cause disorders like ADHD. It’s clear that further interventional studies on larger populations arerequired.