Obesity before or during pregnancy is the root cause of future cardiovascular diseases in women.
- In 2020, nearly one in two French people (47.3%) were overweight or obese.
- Obesity before or during pregnancy is bad for the heart.
- It is therefore essential to take steps to reduce weight before conceiving.
A new study from Northwestern Medicine found that obesity before or during pregnancy is the “true root cause” of future cardiovascular disease.
Pre-pregnancy obesity, main risk factor
According to this research, pregnancy complications, such as preeclampsia and gestational diabetes, are often associated with an increased risk of heart disease, but pre-pregnancy obesity is the main risk factor.
It is therefore essential to take steps to reduce weight before conceiving to reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases. “We don’t want to just wait for people to have these cardiovascular events; we want to prevent them from happening.” said the author of the study, Dr. Sadiya Khan. “Our hypothesis was that pregnancy complications could reveal these since, as we know, pregnancy is a natural stress test for the heart. These findings are important because whether pre-pregnancy obesity is the culprit or the cause of the risk, we should target it with interventions”, he added.
Obesity and pregnancy: 4,216 pregnant women monitored
Before this study, scientists did not know which factor – obesity or pregnancy complications – played a greater role in the risk of cardiovascular disease years after pregnancy. This is one of the only studies to follow its participants from the start of their first pregnancy until several years after giving birth.
Researchers used data from the Heart Health Study to prospectively observe 4,216 pregnant women from the start of their pregnancy until an average of 3.7 years after delivery. At the first study visit in early pregnancy, the average maternal age was 27 years, 53% of women had a normal body mass index (BMI), 25% were overweight, and 22% had obesity. ‘obesity.
Obesity in France: an increasingly important problem
In 2020, nearly one in two French people (47.3%) were overweight or obese, according to figures from a new Odoxa survey for The League Against Obesity. And obesity is growing the most – it has doubled since 1997. Today, 17% of French people are obese (including 6% of children aged 8 to 17).
Massive obesity has practically doubled in a decade, going from 1.1% in 2009 to 2% in 2020, and now concerns more than a million French people.
