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(HealthNewsDigest.com) – The largest study of obesity during pregnancy and babies with heart defects in the United States finds that women who were overweight or obese before they became pregnant had an approximately 18 percent increased risk of having a baby with certain heart defects compared with women who were of normal body mass index (BMI) before they became
pregnant. Severely obese women had approximately a 30 percent increased risk, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The study, “Association Between Prepregnancy Body Mass Index and
Congenital Heart Defects,” published in the American Journal of
Obstetrics and Gynecology, found a significant increase in several types
of heart defects in babies born to overweight and obese women, compared
to babies born to normal weight women. These included obstructive
defects on the right side of the heart, and defects in the tissue that
separates the two upper chambers of the heart
Obesity and overweight were determined based on the study’s
participants’ BMIs. A BMI is a measure of weight in relation to height.
Overweight is defined as a BMI of 25-29.9, moderate obesity is defined
as a BMI 30-34.9, and severe obesity is defined as a BMI of 35 or
higher. For example, a woman who is 5 feet, 5 inches tall and weighs 190
pounds has a BMI of 31.6 which places her in the moderate obesity
category; a woman of that same height who weighs 160 pounds has a BMI of
26.6 which places her in the overweight category.
“Congenital heart defects are the most common types of birth defect, and
among all birth defects, they are a leading cause of illness, death, and
medical expenditures,” said Dr. Edwin Trevathan, director of the CDC’s
National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities. “Women
who are obese and who are planning a pregnancy could benefit by working
with their physicians to achieve a healthy weight before pregnancy.”
The study looked at 25 types of heart defects and found associations
with obesity for 10 of them. Five of these 10 types were also associated
with being overweight before pregnancy. Women who were overweight but
not obese had approximately a 15 percent increased risk of delivering a
baby with certain heart defects.
The study accounted for several important factors such as maternal age
and race-ethnicity. Mothers with type 1 or 2 diabetes before they got
pregnant, a strong risk factor for heart defects, were excluded from the
study.
“These results support previous studies, as well as provide additional
evidence, that there is an association between a woman being overweight
or obese before pregnancy and certain types of heart defects,” said
Suzanne Gilboa, epidemiologist at CDC’s National Center on Birth Defects
and Developmental Disabilities, and primary author of the study. “This
provides another reason for women to maintain a healthy weight. In
addition to the impact on a woman’s own health and the known pregnancy
complications associated with maternal obesity, the baby’s health could
be at risk.”
One important limitation of the study is that BMI is calculated based on
self-reported weight and height, and weight may be underreported by
women during the study interview. Although the study found an
association between overweight and obesity and the risk of certain birth
defects, further study is needed to determine whether body weight is the
direct cause of these birth defects.
The analysis included 6,440 infants with congenital heart defects and
5,673 infants without birth defects whose mothers were interviewed as
part of the National Birth Defects Prevention Study (NBDPS). The NBDPS
is funded by the CDC to collect information from mothers of children
with and without birth defects in Arkansas, California, Georgia, Iowa,
Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Texas, and Utah. This study is
the largest effort ever undertaken in the United States to identify risk
factors for birth defects.
For more information about heart and other birth defects please call
toll free 1-800-CDC-INFO or visit http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd.
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