Interpregnancy weight gain ups HDP risk

Weight gain in between pregnancies worsens the risk hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP), a recent study has found.

The researchers conducted a multicentre retrospective analysis of 1,746 pregnant women who had given birth between 2009 and 2019. The outcome was the development of HDP in subsequent pregnancies, for which predictive variables were determined through patient electronic medical records.

A total of 128 women experienced HDP in a subsequent pregnancy, yielding an incidence rate of 7.3 percent. These participants had significantly higher body mass index (BMI) before the first pregnancy than non-HDP comparators (24.3±5.4 vs 20.6±2.9 kg/m²; p<0.001) and were more likely to have a history of HDP (56.3 percent vs 8.0 percent; p<0.001).

Notably, fluctuations in body weight between pregnancies also affected subsequent HDP risk. For instance, overall (0.99 vs 0.40 kg/m²; p=0.001) and annual (0.60 vs 0.19 kg/m²/year; p=0.002) BMI changes were both greater in women who developed HDP in subsequent pregnancies.

Multivariate analysis confirmed that annual BMI increase in the inter-pregnancy period was a significant risk factor for HDP (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 2.30, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.76–3.01). Other notable correlates included a history of HDP (adjusted OR, 16.76, 95 percent CI, 9.62–29.22), maternal age during the index pregnancy (aOR, 1.07, 95 percent CI, 1.01–1.13), and pre-pregnancy BMI before the index pregnancy (adjusted OR, 1.25, 95 percent CI, 1.17–1.33).