Women who have undergone bariatric surgery are more likely to have babies prematurely and also have a lower body weight for their gestational age.

These are the results of a study by Swedish scientists published in BMJ.

Scientists at the Karolinska Institute say women who have had bariatric surgery should always be followed up as in a high-risk pregnancy..

A 2010 study from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (Dallas) showed that more than 113,000 bariatric surgeries are already performed in the United States each year, with the vast majority of patients being women.. This means that the number of risky pregnancies is also on the rise..

Swedish scientists analyzed records of 2,500 children born between 1992 and 2009. They were all born to women who had previously undergone bariatric surgery.. As a control group, scientists took 12,500 children whose mothers had never undergone surgical treatment of obesity.. All cases were divided into comparable groups, that is, in each group, mothers had the same body mass index, age, education, etc..

The results showed that 5.2% of children from mothers who underwent bariatric surgery were underweight for their gestational age.. There were only 3% of such children in the control group.. Moreover, 9.7% of children in the first group were born prematurely (before the 37th week), in the control group there were 6.1% of them.. Researchers found no difference in stillbirth and neonatal death rates (in the first 27 days postpartum).

Explaining the results of the study, Dr. Olof Stephansson, from the Department of Clinical Epidemiology at the Karolinska Institute, explains: “Mothers with the same BMI give birth to children with different body weights, and the difference between them is only in the bariatric surgery they have undergone.. So there is a connection between these facts..

We do not yet know the mechanism by which bariatric surgery affects fetal growth, but we do know that bariatric surgery is associated with an increased risk of micronutrient deficiencies.”.

The researchers say the main takeaway from their findings is that women who have undergone bariatric surgery should be told in detail about the risks that may arise during their subsequent pregnancies..

They note that medical professionals should be more attentive to such pregnancies, and women should undergo additional ultrasound examinations to monitor fetal development.. They should also be given special dietary advice..

However, researchers acknowledge that despite new evidence, bariatric surgery has benefits for mothers-to-be.. Obesity is a known risk factor for both mother and child. Bariatric Surgery Helps Reduce the Risk of Diabetes, Cancer and Cardiovascular Events.

Earlier this year, the American publication The Obstetrician \u0026 Gynaecologist already reported that after bariatric surgery, women should wait at least 1 year before getting pregnant..

medbe. en.