BackgroundPeople with severe mental illness (SMI) have an elevated risk of obesity but the causes and mechanisms are unclear. We explored the familial association between parental SMI and body mass index (BMI) in middle-aged offspring. Our objective was to determine if the offspring of either parent with SMI have an increased risk for obesity.MethodsThe Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 is a cohort study of offspring with expected date of birth in 1966. The data include originally 12 068 mothers and 12 231 children from the provinces of Lapland and Oulu in Finland. The final study sample included 5050 middle-aged offspring. Parental SMI was used as exposure in the study. BMI measured at the age of 46 years was used as a primary outcome.ResultsRisk for obesity was elevated in the offspring of mothers with SMI [overweight: adjusted odds ratio (OR) 1.93 (1.29–2.90), obese class I: 1.97 (1.20–3.25), obese classes II–III: 2.98 (1.67–5.33)]. For the offspring of either parent with SMI, statistically significant results were found in obese class I and obese classes II–III [overweight: adjusted OR 1.21 (0.94–1.54), obese class I: 1.52 (1.03–1.08), obese classes II–III: 1.53 (1.01–2.32)].ConclusionsWe found an elevated risk of obesity in the middle-aged offspring of either parent with SMI, especially in the offspring of mothers with SMI. Thus, there might be a common familial pathway leading to the co-occurrence of obesity and SMI.