Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 May 13;15(5):e0231579.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0231579. eCollection 2020.

Newborn body composition after maternal bariatric surgery

Emma Malchau Carlsen  1 , Kristina Martha Renault  2   3 , Bertha Kanijo Møller  1 , Kirsten Nørgaard  4 , Jens-Erik Beck Jensen  5 , Jeannet Lauenborg  6 , Dina Cortes  1   7 , Ole Pryds  1   8
Affiliations

Newborn body composition after maternal bariatric surgery

Emma Malchau Carlsen et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Introduction: In pregnancy after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB), there is increased risk of low birthweight in the offspring. The present study examined how offspring body composition was affected by RYGB.

Material and methods: Mother-newborn dyads, where the mothers had undergone RYGB were included. Main outcome measure was neonatal body composition. Neonatal body composition was assessed by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scanning (DXA) within 48 hours after birth. In a statistical model offspring born after RYGB were compared with a reference material of offspring and analyses were made to estimate the effect of maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI), gestational weight gain, parity, gestational age at birth and newborn sex on newborn body composition. Analyses were made to estimate the impact of maternal weight loss before pregnancy and of other effects of bariatric surgery respectively. The study was performed at a university hospital between October 2012 and December 2013.

Results: We included 25 mother-newborn dyads where the mothers had undergone RYGB and compared them to a reference material of 311 mother-newborn dyads with comparable pre-pregnancy BMI. Offspring born by mothers after RYGB had lower birthweight (335g, p<0.001), fat-free mass (268g, p<0.001) and fat% (2.8%, p<0.001) compared with reference material. Only 2% of the average reduction in newborn fat free mass could be attributed to maternal pre-pregnancy weight loss whereas other effects of RYGB accounted for 98%. Regarding reduction in fat mass 52% was attributed to weight loss and 47% to other effects of surgery.

Conclusion: Offspring born after maternal bariatric surgery, had lower birthweight, fat-free mass and fat percentage when compared with a reference material. RYGB itself and not the pre-pregnancy weight loss seems to have had the greatest impact on fetal growth.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

No authors have competing interests.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Inclusion of women with previous bariatric surgery.
Fig 2
Fig 2
(a) Total fat mass in the newborn offspring: Expected values in gram calculated in the reference material using respectively presurgery BMI and prepregnancy BMI and measured values in the group where mothers had previous RYGB. (b) Total fat-free mass in the newborn offspring: Expected values in gram calculated in the reference material using respectively presurgery BMI and prepregnancy BMI and measured values in the group where mothers had previous RYGB.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Jensen DM, Damm P, Sørensen B, Mølsted-Pedersen L, Westergaard JG, Ovesen P, et al. Pregnancy outcome and prepregnancy body mass index in 2459 glucose-tolerant Danish women. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2003. July;189(1):239–44. 10.1067/mob.2003.441 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ovesen P, Rasmussen S, Kesmodel U. Effect of prepregnancy maternal overweight and obesity on pregnancy outcome. Obstet Gynecol. 2011. August;118(2 Pt 1):305–12. 10.1097/AOG.0b013e3182245d49 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Lobstein T, Baur L, Uauy R, IASO International Obesity TaskForce. Obesity in children and young people: a crisis in public health. Obes Rev Off J Int Assoc Study Obes. 2004. May;5 Suppl 1:4–104. - PubMed
    1. Boney CM, Verma A, Tucker R, Vohr BR. Metabolic syndrome in childhood: association with birth weight, maternal obesity, and gestational diabetes mellitus. Pediatrics. 2005. March;115(3):e290–296. 10.1542/peds.2004-1808 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Godfrey KM, Reynolds RM, Prescott SL, Nyirenda M, Jaddoe VWV, Eriksson JG, et al. Influence of maternal obesity on the long-term health of offspring. Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. 2017;5(1):53–64. 10.1016/S2213-8587(16)30107-3 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types