Obesity increases health complications during pregnancy, including miscarriage, preterm birth, and preeclampsia. Researchers have now found that being overweight during pregnancy raises these risks regardless of a woman’s country of birth.
The latest study conducted by researchers at Linköping University and Karolinska Institutet in Sweden examined the risk of complications faced by overweight pregnant women, including both those born in Sweden and those who have moved there.
“We know that overweight and obesity are linked to many complications during pregnancy and childbirth for women born in Sweden. Therefore, we wanted to investigate whether the inequalities in pregnancy complications between women born in different countries can to some extent be explained by differences in body weight. If you know that there are health inequalities, you want to find out why, in order to be able to do something about the inequalities in the next step,” said Pontus Henriksson who led the study in a news release.
The researchers evaluated nearly two million pregnancies and focused on eight significant complications that can impact the mother or baby during pregnancy and childbirth. The complications examined include those related to pregnancy, including preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, and infant mortality within the first year of life. It also looked at preterm birth, extremely preterm birth, and low Apgar scores, which assess a newborn’s vitality. The researchers also considered the risks associated with having a large baby or a small baby concerning the length of the pregnancy.
The findings published in The Lancet Public Health suggest that promoting a healthy weight has the potential to prevent pregnancy complications for all women.
The researchers explored how many pregnancy complications, such as gestational diabetes, could be prevented if all women started their pregnancies at a normal weight.
“For example, we concluded that about half of all cases of gestational diabetes could potentially be prevented. This applies to both women born in Sweden and foreign-born women, said Maryam Shirvanifar, the first author of the study.
The study also revealed that the impact of weight on these complications varies significantly; for instance, high body weight is particularly linked to an increased risk of gestational diabetes compared to other pregnancy-related issues.