Pregnant women who are obese put their children at higher risk of developing asthma compared to mothers of normal weight, a large study in Sweden has found.

The study, which covered over 129,000 mothers in Stockholm and their 189,000 children, found that mothers who were very obese, or with a body mass index of 35 and over, had a 61 percent increased risk of their children developing asthma by the time they were between 8 and 10 years of age.

“We found that there was a clear increased risk of childhood asthma, medication use and hospitalization with increasing degree of obesity and overweight in mothers in early pregnancy,” said lead author Adrian Lowe from the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute and University of Melbourne.

Obese mothers put children at higher risk of asthma | Reuters