New Delhi:Supporting women of childbearing ages to maintain a healthy weight could reduce the risk of developing pregnancy complications such as hypertension, having C-section delivery, or birthing heavier babies, new international research published in BioMed Central (BMC) Medicine journal has found.
While previous studies have correlated mother's weight with pregnancy complications, researchers said they have addressed previous confounding issues like education and lifestyle to identify clearer causal links between an increased maternal weight and developing complications while being pregnant.
It was important to better understand this, because being overweight occurs frequently in women of childbearing age and this work showed that having a healthy weight may improve health outcomes of mothers and children, according to study author Janine Felix, associate professor and epidemiologist, Department of Paediatrics, Erasmus MC, The Netherlands.
The findings could be key to advising future policies and ensuring women of childbearing age live healthy lives, the team said. "A lot of research has identified correlations between a mother's weight and health conditions in pregnancy, but these can make it very difficult to determine what is cause and what is effect, creating a confusing picture for mothers, clinicians and healthcare workers.
"We used a range of more robust approaches, giving clear evidence of where the mother's weight caused the health condition and where it did not," explained Rachel Freathy, study author and associate professor at the University of Exeter, UK. To better understand how mother's weight influenced a wide range of pregnancy-related complications, the team of researchers combined data from 14 studies in Europe and North America.