Excessive Gestational Weight Gain can Increase Heart Disease Risk in Mothers

Pregnant women with excessive gestational weight gain were more likely to be at risk of developing cardiovascular risk later in life, reveals a new study published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Women’s Health. Franya Hutchins, PhD, from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, and coauthors used two main measures to determine a woman’s cardiovascular disease risk: the atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk score and a measure of the C-reactive protein (CRP), an inflammatory biomarker.

Measurements of these Variables

The investigators measured these variables at baseline and at 10 follow-up visits, for a total of 20 years of follow-up.

Having a history of excessive gestational weight gain was associated with a 29.6% higher ASCVD risk score at baseline.

“In the model including confounders and midlife abdominal obesity, excessive gestational weight gain remained associated with a 9.1% higher ASCVD score,” stated the investigators.

Excessive gestational weight gain was associated with an 89.2% higher baseline CRP level. With the addition of confounders and midlife abdominal obesity, excessive gestational weight gain remained associated with a 31.5% higher mean CRP.

“In this group of women, a history of excessive gestational weight gain was associated with a small but statistically significant higher ASCVD score and a moderate, statistically significant higher mean CRP level into midlife,” says Journal of Women’s Health Editor-in-Chief Susan G. Kornstein, MD, executive director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women’s Health, Richmond, VA.



Source-Eurekalert