The risk of gaining extra weight during pregnancy

Pregnant women who gained more weight than recommended had a higher risk of dying from heart disease or diabetes in the coming decades, according to a study published in The Lancet journal that analyzed more than 50 years of data.

Scientists from the University of Pennsylvania, United States, are behind this research. “We hope this work will lead to greater efforts to identify new, effective and safe ways to help pregnant women achieve healthy weight gain,” says researcher Stefanie Hinkle, lead author of the study.

“We showed this by gaining weight during the course pregnancy within current guidelines can protect against possible negative influences much later in life.”

To conduct this observational work, the researchers analyzed a broad set US data which extended from the moment she was a woman gave birth until the next five decades.

The project cataloged data from a racially diverse group of women who gave birth in the 1950s or 1960s and linked their records with data from mortality which were extended until 2016, the press release states Faculty of Medicine from the University of Pennsylvania.

The researchers they analyzed information from more than 45,000 women, including their own body mass indices (BMI) and changes in weight during the entire pregnancy and compared these data with the current recommendations.

Then they linked those numbers to deaths from any cause and then with deaths from cardiovascular causes or relating to diabetes.’

During pregnancy, it is very common for women to gain a few kilograms, but there is a recommended weight and it is related to the weight at the beginning and the state of pregnancy.

Currently, almost half of pregnant women gain more weight than recommended.

In order to avoid possible negative impacts on life, it is advisable to gain weight during pregnancy in accordance with the currently proposed guidelines.

Today’s recommendations for weight gain during pregnancy were established in 2009 and are directly related to a woman’s weight at the beginning of pregnancy.

They range from approx 12.7 to 18 kilograms for women into consideration under weight and from 5 to 9 kilograms for those with obesity. Currently, almost half of pregnant women gain more weight than recommended, according to the same sources.

The analysis revealed a larger risk deaths in all investigated weight groups, insufficient weight, normal or overweight before pregnancy. It’s not like that in them women with obesity.

Although the study was not designed to specifically analyze this last aspect – obesity – Hinkle indicated that it is possible that this group’s already high death rate influenced the finding.

According to the analysis, about 39% of women in the study cohort had died by 2016. Those with the lowest BMI died the earliest. proportion of those with the highest BMI.

Among those who were thin before pregnancy but gained more than the (now) recommended amount, the risk of pregnancy-related death heart disease increased by 84%.

Among those who are considered normal weight before pregnancy (about two-thirds of the cohort), all-cause mortality increased by 9% when they gained more than recommended weight, and the risk of death from heart disease 20%.

Women who were considered overweight had a 12% higher risk of death if they gained more than the recommended weight, and a 12% higher risk of dying from diabetes.