Prevent Excess Weight Gain During Pregnancy: Avoid Later Obesity, Live Healthy

Excessive weight gain during pregnancy can have a lasting negative impact on the health of a mother and her baby.

Highlights

Excess weight gain during pregnancy increases the risk of a number of pregnancy complications.
For young mothers, pre-pregnancy body mass index, or BMI, and ethnicity might signal a likelihood for obesity later in life.
There is also a need to use appropriate tools for the assessment of healthy weight gain in pregnancy.

Weight gain during pregnancy is an issue every pregnant woman faces. New research shows that for young mothers, pre-pregnancy body mass index, or BMI, and ethnicity, might signal a likelihood for obesity later in life.

After analyzing the medical records of more than 1,000 women who gave birth between the ages of 15 and 24, investigators from the University of Michigan conclude that physicians caring for adolescent women should use BMI before pregnancy as a strong indicator of whether a young mother will gain too much weight during pregnancy, a risk factor for later obesity.

Healthy Weight Gain during Pregnancy
Recommended weight gain during pregnancy is determined as per pre-pregnancy weight and BMI. Healthy weight gain is very important for pregnancy health and is achieved with the right diet and exercise.

‘Excess weight gain during pregnancy is a serious health concern among young pregnant women.’

Researchers reviewed information about the mothers' pregnancy and delivery, including pre-pregnancy BMI and the mother's weight gain during pregnancy. Follow-up interviews gathered additional information, including access to and use of health care and child care services; experiences with local welfare and child support agencies; parental conflict and domestic violence; and child health and well-being.

It's well known that excessive weight gain during pregnancy can have a lasting negative impact on the health of a mother and her baby.

"When I talk to young women, I emphasize that their health as young adults is going to impact more than themselves," says Tammy Chang, M.D., assistant professor in Michigan Medicine's Department of Family Medicine and a practicing physician at the Corner Health Center. "It's going to impact the health of their future families and future children."

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Dangers of Excessive Weight Gain During Pregnancy

Excess weight gain during pregnancy increases the risk of a number of pregnancy complications including:

Gestational diabetes
High blood pressure
Fetal growth abnormalities
Increased difficulty during labor and delivery

For mothers, risks also include heart disease and hypertension, and for their children, a greater risk of future obesity and heart disease.

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How do we Prevent Excessive Weight Gain?

As a member of the Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation Chang developed an interest in the impact of pregnancy on weight gain at different stages of life from observing trends she saw among her patients.

She saw the necessity of debunking the myths associated with pregnancy, especially among adolescence. She also saw an opportunity to educate and empower multiple generations within one family in one doctor's visit.

Pregnancy and Antenatal Care
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"Adolescents are central to addressing the obesity epidemic," Chang says referring to the fact that 38 percent of adults and 17 percent of teens in the U.S. are obese, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Chang believes getting young people to understand the importance of maintaining a healthy weight can lead to a healthier population in the future. Although getting adults to eat right, exercise and maintain a healthy lifestyle is difficult, she says pregnancy is a prime opportunity for patient education about diet and exercise.

Chang also notes that interventions and programs promoting healthy weight gain during pregnancy must be designed to take adolescent-specific factors into consideration. Younger pregnant women face different issues, concerns and circumstances than older or more established pregnant women.

"We can't use the same conceptual framework for adolescents that we use for adults," Chang says. "They are developmentally different and are often vulnerable to different life factors and under different constraints."

Reference

Tammy Chang et al., Characteristics of women age 15-24 at risk for excess weight gain during pregnancy, Plos One (2017) http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0173790.

Source-Medindia