Adriëtte Oostvogels

6 Maternal characteristics Maternal age, ethnic origin (Dutch, Surinamese, Turkish, Moroccan, and other), education level, parity (nulliparous/multiparous) and smoking (no; <5 cigarettes/ day; ≥5 cigarettes/day) were available from the pregnancy questionnaire. Child’s sex and gestational age at birth (based on ultrasound or, when not available, on the first day of the last menstrual period (±10%)) were available from YHC. Years of education after primary school were considered as proxy for socioeconomic status. Ethnic origin was divided into categories by the country of birth of the mother of the pregnant woman. Information on hypertension and diabetes during pregnancy [yes (both pre-existent and gestational)/no] was available by combining data from the pregnancy and infancy questionnaire and the Netherlands Perinatal Registry. The hypertension categories were classified in accordance with the 2001 guidelines of the Figure 1. Flowchart of the study population 151 pBMI and offspring’s growth patterns