Weight gain between pregnancies linked to increased risk of stillbirth and infant death

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-12/tl-tlw120115.php

Public Release: 2-Dec-2015
The Lancet: Weight gain between pregnancies linked to increased risk of stillbirth and infant death
The Lancet

Mothers of healthy weight during their first pregnancy who gain even a moderate amount of weight (around 6 kg [13 pounds] in a woman of average height) between their first and second pregnancies increase the risk of their baby dying in its first year of life, according to new research involving over 450'000 Swedish women, published in The Lancet.

The findings also reveal an incremental increase in the risk of stillbirth with weight gain between pregnancies, irrespective of a woman's weight during her first pregnancy. Importantly, weight loss between pregnancies reduced the likelihood of neonatal death (within 28 days of birth) in babies of overweight women (BMI 25 kg/m² or over).

"The public health implications are profound," says study author Professor Sven Cnattingius from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden. "Around a fifth of women in our study gained enough weight between pregnancies to increase their risk of stillbirth by 30-50%, and their likelihood of giving birth to babies who die in infancy increased by 27-60%, if they had a healthy weight during their first pregnancy."

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