Excessive weight gain during pregnancy can lead to higher risks of death
Published: 31 Oct 2023
According to a recent study of pregnant women with low-risk pregnancy complications in Singapore, approximately 60% of them either gained too little or too much weight during pregnancy. Exceeding the recommended weight gain was associated with a higher risk of caesarean section (C-section) deliveries and the birth of larger babies – rendering this an increasingly alarming issue to be studied.
Hence, excessive weight gain in pregnancy is associated with various pregnancy complications, yet its long-term implications on women, such as mortality rates, remain unknown.
Professor Cuilin Zhang from the Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS Medicine), and Director of the Global Center for Asian Women’s Health (GloW) at NUS Medicine and the University of Pennsylvania and the US National Institutes of Health have investigated the association between weight gain during pregnancy, and mortality rate, with a follow-up period of over 50 years.
The researchers found that for women with BMI in the normal and overweight range, excessive weight gain during pregnancy was associated with a 9% to 12% increase in all-cause mortality risk respectively. The findings were published in The Lancet, one of the world’s highest ranked academic journal.
The outcomes of the study included all-cause mortality, which refers to death by any cause, and cause-specific mortality, such as death by conditions like cardiovascular diseases and cancers. These findings are significant as the underlying biological mechanisms of maternal weight gain during pregnancy and mortality are similar across populations.
Excessive weight gain for women with a pre-pregnancy BMI in the underweight and normal range, led to an 84% and 20% increased risk of mortality from cardiovascular disease respectively. At the same time, women with a BMI in the overweight range held a 77% increased risk of mortality from diabetes.
The findings from this large well-characterised study, with more than 50 years of follow-up data, provide important evidence on the significance of women’s health for reproduction and their overall long-term health, wellbeing, and longevity.
“Promoting women’s health and achieving healthy longevity should start early in women’s lives. In particular, women’s health at their reproductive age and during pregnancy, are critical time windows that have long-term health impacts over their lifespan, as well as intergenerational impact on the offspring and the family,” said Prof Zhang, the principal investigator and last author of the study.
Read more in the press release here.
