Author Interviews, Blood Pressure - Hypertension, Diabetes, JAMA, Weight Research / 18.03.2016
Maternal Weight, Blood Glucose and Blood Pressure Affect Baby’s Birth Weight
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Debbie Lawlor PhD
School of Social and Community Medicine
University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove
Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit
University of Bristol, UK and
Rachel Freathy PhD,
University of Exeter, Institute of Biomedical and Clinical Science,
Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, Exeter UK
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: A healthy birth weight is important for babies’ health and wellbeing in the first year of their life. It reflects how well the baby has grown and developed in the womb. The experience of fetuses in the womb and how well they grow and develop might also determine their future health, even into adulthood. Both being too light or too heavy at birth is not good for the baby. Lots of studies have shown that mothers who are fatter at the start of their pregnancy have babies who are more likely to be heavier. But is it not clear whether the mother being fatter causes their baby to be bigger at birth. If mothers’ fatness does cause their baby to be heavier at birth, why this happens is not clear.
We used genes to find out whether being fatter in pregnancy causes babies to be born heavier. We also tested whether risk factors in the mother that are affected by her fatness, such as her blood pressure, and the level of glucose (sugar) and lipids (fats) in her blood stream affect how heavy her baby is.
Our results showed that being fatter during pregnancy did cause a mothers’ baby to be born heavier. We also showed that having higher blood levels of glucose in pregnancy also caused a mothers’ baby to be heavier. But we did not find any effect of mothers’ blood levels of lipids in pregnancy on their baby’s weight. Whilst mothers who are heavier in pregnancy will tend to have higher blood pressure in pregnancy we found that higher blood pressure caused the women’s babies to be lighter.
(more…)