People with obesity who gained less than the recommended 5 kg to 9 kg of weight during pregnancy did not experience adverse outcomes, and neither did their children, according to from about 15鈥�800 pregnancies among people with obesity in Sweden.
The findings from this population-based cohort study support calls for lowering or removing the current lower limit of weight gain recommended by the US Institute of Medicine (now the National Academy of Medicine) for pregnant patients with obesity, which 鈥渕ight help to reduce the high burden of poor maternal and infant health outcomes associated with prepregnancy obesity,鈥� the researchers wrote in The Lancet. The results were based on a score that took into account stillbirths, size at birth, gestational diabetes, and cardiometabolic diseases that began after pregnancy.
The researchers also found that for people with a body mass index of 40 or higher鈥攌nown as class 3 obesity鈥攎aintaining or losing weight during pregnancy was not only safe but linked with a reduced risk of adverse outcomes.
Published Online: April 26, 2024. doi:10.1001/jama.2024.6718