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Gestational Weight Gain Below IOM Recommendation Safe in Obesity

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on April 7, 2024.

By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, April 5, 2024 -- Gestational weight gain below the current U.S. Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommendation is safe for pregnancies with obesity, according to a study published online March 28 in The Lancet.

Kari Johansson, Ph.D., from Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, and colleagues used electronic medical records from the Stockholm-Gotland Perinatal Cohort study to identify pregnancies with obesity among singleton pregnancies that delivered from Jan. 1, 2008, through Dec. 31, 2015. The safety of gestational weight gain below current recommendations or weight loss in pregnancies with obesity was examined.

Data were included for a cohort of 15,760 pregnancies with obesity (74.0, 20.1, and 5.9 percent had class 1, 2, and 3 obesity, respectively), followed for a median of 7.9 years. The researchers found that 13.9, 24.9, and 33.2 percent of pregnancies with class 1, 2, and 3 obesity, respectively, had weight gain below the lower limit of the IOM recommendation (5 kg at term) during pregnancy. Gestational weight gain values below the lower limit of the IOM recommendation or weight loss did not increase risk for the adverse composite outcome in pregnancies with class 1 or 2 obesity. However, weight gain values below the IOM limit or weight loss were associated with a reduced risk for the adverse composite outcome among pregnancies with class 3 obesity (adjusted rate ratio, 0.81 at weight gain z score, −2.4, or 0 kg).

"Gestational weight gain below the current IOM recommendations is likely to be safe in pregnancies with obesity, and might be beneficial for those with class 3 obesity," the authors write.

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Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

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Posted April 2024

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