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 Dec;99(12):1649-1656.
doi: 10.1111/aogs.13941. Epub 2020 Jul 3.

Is obesity in pregnancy associated with signs of chronic fetal hypoxia?

Hanna Åmark  1 , Meeli Sirotkina  2 , Magnus Westgren  3 , Nikos Papadogiannakis  2 , Martina Persson  1   4
Affiliations
Free article

Is obesity in pregnancy associated with signs of chronic fetal hypoxia?

Hanna Åmark et al. Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand. 2020 Dec.
Free article

Abstract

Introduction: The prevalence of obesity in pregnancy is increasing worldwide. Maternal obesity increases risks of severe fetal and neonatal complications. The underlying pathophysiological mechanisms are unclear. One possible contributing factor could be chronic fetal hypoxia. The aim of this study was to compare placentas from women with and without obesity with respect to placental lesions, which could reflect compensatory mechanisms in response to chronic fetal hypoxia as well as lesions possibly leading to chronic fetal hypoxia. In addition, levels of erythropoietin in cord blood were compared between offspring of lean and obese women.

Material and methods: This cohort study included 180 women with uneventful, full-term, singleton pregnancies, out of which 91 lean women had a body mass index (BMI) of 18.5-24.9 kg/m2 and 89 women had obesity (BMI ≥30 kg/m2 ). Women were recruited at Södersjukhuset between 16 October 2018 and 2 December 2019. Placentas were investigated by two senior perinatal pathologists, who were blinded for maternal BMI. Cord blood was analyzed for levels of erythropoietin.

Results: Levels of erythropoietin in cord blood increased with maternal BMI (P = .01, β = 0.97, 95% CI 0.27-1.68). There was no difference between placentas of obese and lean women in number of placental lesions reflecting chronic fetal hypoxia or in lesions that could possibly lead to chronic fetal hypoxia.

Conclusions: This study of term and uneventful pregnancies demonstrated a positive association between maternal obesity and concentrations of erythropoietin in cord blood at birth. This finding supports the hypothesis of chronic fetal hypoxia as a risk factor for complications in the pregnancies of obese women. There were no differences in lesions associated with hypoxia between placentas of obese and lean women.

Keywords: erythropoietin; fetal hypoxia; obesity; placenta.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES

    1. Trends in adult body-mass index in 200 countries from 1975 to 2014: a pooled analysis of 1698 population-based measurement studies with 19.2 million participants. Lancet. 2016;387:1377-1396.
    1. Ogden CL, Carroll MD, Lawman HG, et al. Trends in obesity prevalence among children and adolescents in the United States, 1988-1994 through 2013-2014. JAMA. 2016;315:2292-2299.
    1. Persson M, Johansson S, Villamor E, Cnattingius S. Maternal overweight and obesity and risks of severe birth-asphyxia-related complications in term infants: a population-based cohort study in Sweden. PLoS Medicine. 2014;11:e1001648.
    1. Barrois M, Patkai J, Delorme P, Chollat C, Goffinet F, Le Ray C. Factors associated with neonatal hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy in infants with an umbilical artery pH less than 7.00. Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol. 2019;236:69-74.
    1. Aune D, Saugstad OD, Henriksen T, Tonstad S. Maternal body mass index and the risk of fetal death, stillbirth, and infant death: a systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA. 2014;311:1536-1546.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources