Maternal obesity is associated with increased cardiometabolic risk factors in offspring, but effects on the mortality of offspring are unclear. Reynolds et al. analysed the medical records of 28,540 women (4% of whom had maternal obesity) and their 37,709 offspring. After adjustment for confounders, all-cause mortality and hospital admissions for a cardiovascular event were increased in adult offspring of women with maternal obesity, compared with those in offspring of women with a normal BMI during pregnancy.