Researchers published the study covered in this summary on medRxiv as a preprint that has not yet been peer reviewed.
Key Takeaways
The risk of fetal congenital heart defect (CHD) gradually increased with increasing pre-pregnancy maternal body mass index (BMI), in a study that used 10-year registry data of all live births, stillbirths, abortions, and terminated pregnancies in Denmark.
There was a nonsignificant trend of increased risk of CHD in offspring of a second pregnancy in women who gained a substantial amount of weight after a first pregnancy.
Why This Matters
Previous studies have reported that maternal obesity is associated with an increased risk of CHD in offspring, but no large studies have included CHD identified prenatally in terminated pregnancies.
The findings show it remains important to advise women that a high BMI is a risk factor for congenital malformations, and obstetric and perinatal complications.
Study Design
Researchers performed a cohort study of all singleton pregnancies in Denmark with estimated due dates between June 1, 2008, and June 1, 2018, using data from the Danish Fetal Medicine database.
They identified CHD diagnoses in live births, as well as CHD diagnoses in utero from ultrasound examinations during pregnancies that resulted in live birth, stillbirth, or spontaneous abortionor
