Pregnant people who gained more than the now-recommended amount of weight had a higher risk of death from heart disease or diabetes in the decades that followed, according to new analysis of 50 years of data published in The Lancet and led by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine. The group studied a large national data set that stretched from when a person gave birth through the next five decades, assessing mortality rates to show the potential long-term effects of weight gain in pregnancy. Higher risk of death was found for all weight groups studied—including those defined as underweight, normal weight, or overweight prior to their pregnancies—but no increase in risk was uncovered among those who had been obese.
“We hope that this work leads to greater efforts to identify new, effective, and safe ways to support pregnant people in achieving a healthy weight gain,” says the study’s lead author, Stefanie Hinkle, an assistant professor of epidemiology and obstetrics and gynecology at Penn. “We showed that gaining weight during pregnancy within the current guidelines may protect against possible negative impacts much later in life, and this builds upon evidence of the short-term benefits for both maternal health and the health of the baby.”
Among those who were “underweight” before pregnancy but gained more than the (now) recommended amount of weight, the risk of death related to heart disease climbed by 84%. Among those considered to be of “normal” weight before their pregnancy (which was roughly two-thirds of the cohort), all-cause mortality rose by 9% when they gained more weight than recommended, with their risk of heart disease-related death climbing by 20%. Finally, those considered “overweight” had a 12% increased risk of dying if they gained more weight than is now recommended, with a 12% increase in their risk of diabetes-related death.
Weight gain during pregnancy doesn’t happen in a vacuum, as health care access, nutrition, and stress can all play a significant role. But now that they have a better picture of the long-term risks associated with unhealthy gains, Hinkle and her colleagues hope to find more that will help address the issue.
Read more at Penn Medicine News.
