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
. 2025 Jun;33(6):1145-1153.
doi: 10.1002/oby.24276. Epub 2025 May 5.

Gestational weight gain, cardiometabolic health, and long-term weight retention at 17 years post delivery

Marcela R Abrego  1 , Andrew G Rundle  2 , Saralyn F Foster  1 , Daniel A Powers  3 , Lori A Hoepner  4 , Eliza W Kinsey  5 , Frederica P Perera  6 , Elizabeth M Widen  1
Affiliations

Gestational weight gain, cardiometabolic health, and long-term weight retention at 17 years post delivery

Marcela R Abrego et al. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2025 Jun.

Abstract

Objective: High gestational weight gain (GWG) is positively associated with acute postpartum adiposity, long-term postpartum weight retention (LPPWR), and later cardiometabolic health, but whether associations persist into midlife remains unknown.

Methods: Among Black and Dominican women from a prospective cohort (N = 210), GWG adherence to 2009 Institute of Medicine (IOM) guidelines and restricted cubic spline GWG z scores were calculated. At 17 years post delivery, weight, height, waist circumference (WC), systolic and diastolic blood pressure, fat mass (FM), and fat-free mass were measured. Linear and logistic regression estimated associations between GWG and long-term postpartum outcomes, adjusting for covariates.

Results: Over one-half (60%) of participants had GWG above IOM guidelines. At 17 years, mean (SD) BMI was 31.2 (6.7) kg/m2. GWG above IOM guidelines was positively associated with 17-year FM (β = 5.11 kg; 95% CI: 2.35-7.88), WC (β = 4.95 cm; 95% CI: 2.07-7.83), and LPPWR from prepregnancy to 17 years (β = 6.10 kg; 95% CI: 2.46-9.75), but not with blood pressure. Positive associations were also observed between GWG z scores and body fat percentage, FM, fat-free mass, WC, and LPPWR.

Conclusions: As women age into midlife, high GWG continues to be associated with higher adiposity, as well as weight gain more than 6 kg above prepregnancy weight, compared with those who gain within or below IOM guidelines.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Deputy NP, Sharma AJ, Kim SY. Gestational Weight Gain - United States, 2012 and 2013. MMWR. Morbidity and mortality weekly report 2015; 64(43): 1215–1220. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Widen EM, Whyatt RM, Hoepner LA, Mueller NT, Ramirez-Carvey J, Oberfield SE, Hassoun A, Perera FP, Gallagher D, Rundle AG. Gestational weight gain and obesity, adiposity and body size in African American and Dominican children in the Bronx and Northern Manhattan. Maternal & child nutrition 2016; 12(4): 918–928. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Rasmussen KM, Yaktine AL, Institute of Medicine (US) and National Research Council (US) Committee to Reexamine IOM Pregnancy Weight Guidelines (Eds.). Weight Gain During Pregnancy: Reexamining the Guidelines. National Academies Press (US) 2009. - PubMed
    1. Deputy NP, Sharma AJ, Kim SY, Hinkle SN. Prevalence and characteristics associated with gestational weight gain adequacy. Obstetrics and gynecology 2015; 125(4): 773–781. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Flegal KM, Carroll MD, Kit BK, Ogden CL. Prevalence of obesity and trends in the distribution of body mass index among US adults, 1999–2010. JAMA 2012; 307(5): 491–497. - PubMed

Supplementary concepts

LinkOut - more resources