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Fine motor skills of children may be affected if parents are obese, says study
Posted on: 10/Jan/2017 12:20:34 PM
A new study says that, apart from health related issues, children of obese mothers were nearly 70 per cent more likely to fail tests of fine motor skill - the ability to control movement of small muscles, such as those in the fingers and hands - by age 3, when compared to children of normal-weight mothers.
Children with obese fathers were 75 per cent more likely to fail measures of social competence - an indicator of how well they were able to relate to and interact with others by age 3. Those born to extremely obese couples were nearly three times more likely to fail tests of problem-solving ability by age three.
Speaking about this, the researchers from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NICHD, in the US said, Our study is one of the few that also includes information about fathers, and our results suggest that dad`s weight also has significant influence on child development. If the link between parental obesity and developmental delays is confirmed, physicians may need to take parental weight into account when screening young children for delays and early interventional services.
The study appeared in the journal Pediatrics.
