PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Study supports recommendations to avoid pregnancy for at least 12 months after obesity surgery

2021-05-09
(Press-News.org) A study presented at this year's European Congress on Obesity (held online, 10-13 May) supports recommendations to avoid pregnancy for 12 months after bariatric (obesity) surgery due to an association with adverse outcomes in pregnancy including an elevated risk of preterm birth. The study is by Dr Laura Heusschen, Vitalys Obesity Clinic, part of Rijnstate Hospital, Arnhem, The Netherlands, and colleagues.

More than half of all female patients who undergo bariatric surgery are of reproductive age, and the resulting weight loss improves fertility, as well as reducing the risk of gestational diabetes and hypertensive disorders during pregnancy. It also lowers the chance of the baby having a high birth weight, which is associated with an increased risk of complications for both mother and child.

Current recommendations for women undergoing bariatric surgery are that they should avoid pregnancy for 12 to 24 months after the operation to avoid problems caused by ongoing active weight loss and an increased risk of malnutrition due to a markedly reduced calorie intake. This is most likely to occur within the first 12 months after surgery and can decrease the nutritional supply to the growing fetus; potentially affecting its development and resulting in a reduced birth weight and greater likelihood of preterm birth.

The authors note, however: "Previous studies found no associations between the time from surgery to conception and adverse pregnancy or neonatal outcomes. In fact, most studies confirm that the risk of these outcomes is not increased during the first 12 months after bariatric surgery compared to later pregnancies."

The aim of this retrospective multi-centre cohort study was to evaluate pregnancy and birth outcomes by surgery-to-conception interval and by adherence to the recommendations for gestational weight gain of the National Academy of Medicine.* Births were categorised based on surgery-to-conception interval and gestational weight gain, with the primary outcome variables gestational age at delivery, preterm birth, birth weight, and weight-for-age percentile.

Preterm birth was defined as having a gestation period of less than 37 weeks, while gestation periods of less than 32 weeks were classed as very preterm based on the definition used by the World Health Organization. The relationship between the weight of an infant at birth relative to its gestational age was compared against birth weight charts, adjusted for sex. Those within the top 10% were classified as being large-for-gestational-age (LGA), with the bottom 10% classified as small-for-gestational-age (SGA).

The authors performed a retrospective analysis of 196 single pregnancies in mothers who had previously undergone bariatric surgery using the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, Sleeve Gastrectomy, or One Anastomosis Gastric Bypass methods. These pregnancies were assigned to one of three groups based on time interval from surgery to conception: early group (?12 months), the middle group (12-24 months) and the late group (>24 months). Gestational weight gain was classified as inadequate, adequate or excessive according to the National Academy of Medicine recommendations.

Despite current recommendations, 23.5% of the women in this study cohort had conceived within 12 months of their operation. These 'early' pregnancies were associated with lower gestational age at delivery (267.1 days vs 272.7 and vs 273.1 days), lower gestational weight gain (-0.9 kg vs +10.2 kg and +10.0 kg), and lower neonatal birth weight (2979 grams vs 3161 grams and 3211 grams) than those in the 'middle' and 'late' groups, respectively.

The authors note: "Although the difference of 200 g in neonatal birth weight is probably not clinically relevant, the lower gestational age in the 'early' group might be alarming as we also found a trend towards more preterm births in this group."

The team also found an association between 'inadequate' gestational weight gain (40.6% were in this category) and lower gestational age at delivery (266.5 days vs 273.8 days) and lower neonatal birth weight (3061 grams vs 3217 grams) compared to pregnancies in the 'adequate' weight gain group. Inadequate gestational weight gain was also associated with a higher rate of preterm births (15.9% vs 6.0%) than pregnancies with adequate gestational weight gain.

The authors conclude: "Our findings support the recommendation to avoid pregnancy for 12 months after bariatric surgery...We should encourage women who wish to conceive after bariatric surgery to avoid pregnancy until their weight has stabilised to minimise the risk of inadequate gestational weight gain. In order to break the vicious cycle of obesity and its health consequences, it is important that future research and clinical care focus on the prevention of babies being born small for gestational age after bariatric surgery."

INFORMATION:



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Most comprehensive studies to date find 'insufficient evidence' to support herbal and dietary supplements for weight loss

2021-05-09
The first global review of complementary medicines (herbal and dietary supplements) for weight loss in 16 years--combining 121 randomised placebo-controlled trials including nearly 10,000 adults--suggests that their use cannot be justified based on the current evidence. The findings of two studies, being presented at The European Congress on Obesity (ECO) held online this year, suggest that although some herbal and dietary supplements show statistically greater weight loss than placebo, it is not enough to benefit health, and the authors call for more research into their long-term safety. "Over-the-counter ...

Vegetarians have healthier levels of disease markers than meat-eaters

2021-05-09
Vegetarians appear to have a healthier biomarker profile than meat-eaters, and this applies to adults of any age and weight, and is also unaffected by smoking and alcohol consumption, according to a new study in over 166,000 UK adults, being presented at this week's European Congress on Obesity (ECO), held online this year. Biomarkers can have bad and good health effects, promoting or preventing cancer, cardiovascular and age-related diseases, and other chronic conditions, and have been widely used to assess the effect of diets on health. However, evidence of the metabolic benefits associated with being vegetarian is unclear. To understand ...

Switch of breast tumors to HER2-low in recurrence may provide greater therapeutic options

Switch of breast tumors to HER2-low in recurrence may provide greater therapeutic options
2021-05-08
Lugano, Switzerland, 8 May 2021 - The finding that breast tumours can evolve to express low HER2 potentially widens the number of patients who can benefit from new investigational agents, typically novel antibody-drug conjugate therapies, that are currently in clinical trials for HER2-low tumours. The first study of its kind exploring how breast cancers change from the primary to the recurrent tumour has revealed that nearly 30% of breast cancer patients convert from, or to, human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER)2-low status. Specifically, the study found that 14% of triple-negative breast cancers with HER2-negative expression (also referred to as HER2-0) in the primary tumour converted to HER2-low expression in the recurrent tumour ...

Mild COVID-19 infection is very unlikely to cause lasting heart damage

2021-05-08
Mild Covid-19 infection is very unlikely to cause lasting damage to the structure or function of the heart, according to a study led by UCL (University College London) researchers and funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and Barts Charity. The researchers say the results, published in JACC Cardiovascular Imaging, should reassure the public, as they relate to the vast majority of people who had Covid-19 infections with mild or no symptoms. This study of 149 healthcare workers recruited from Barts Health and Royal Free London NHS Trusts is the largest and most detailed study to date into ...

Ice core data show why, despite lower sulfur emissions in US and Western Europe, air pollution is dropping more slowly

Ice core data show why, despite lower sulfur emissions in US and Western Europe, air pollution is dropping more slowly
2021-05-08
The air in the United States and Western Europe is much cleaner than even a decade ago. Low-sulfur gasoline standards and regulations on power plants have successfully cut sulfate concentrations in the air, reducing the fine particulate matter that harms human health and cleaning up the environmental hazard of acid rain. Despite these successes, sulfate levels in the atmosphere have declined more slowly than sulfur dioxide emissions, especially in wintertime. This unexpected phenomenon suggests sulfur dioxide emission reductions are less efficient than expected for cutting sulfate aerosols. A new study led by Tokyo ...

The Lancet Rheumatology: Largest study to date confirms non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications do not result in worse COVID-19 outcomes

2021-05-08
The use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as ibuprofen, does not lead to higher rates of death or severe disease in patients who are hospitalised with COVID-19, according to a new observational study of more than 72,000 people in the UK published in The Lancet Rheumatology journal. NSAIDs are common treatments for acute pain and rheumatological diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthrosis. Early in the pandemic, there was debate on whether the use of such drugs increased the severity of COVID-19, which led to urgent calls for investigations between NSAIDs and COVID-19. The ISARIC CCP-UK (International Severe Acute Respiratory and emerging ...

The legume family tree

The legume family tree
2021-05-07
The most comprehensive study of the family tree for legumes, the plant family that includes beans, soybeans, peanuts, and many other economically important crop plants, reveals a history of whole-genome duplications. The study also helps to uncover the evolution of genes involved in nitrogen fixation--a key trait likely important in the evolutionary spread and diversification of legumes and vital for their use as "green manure" in agriculture. To reconstruct the family tree, researchers compared the DNA sequence of more than 1500 genes from 463 different legume species, including 391 newly sequenced species, that span the diversity of this large plant family. A paper describing the ...

New research sets stage for development of salmonella vaccine

2021-05-07
With the COVID-19 vaccines on many people's minds, some may be surprised to learn that we do not yet have vaccines for many common infectious diseases. Take salmonella, for example, which can infect people through contaminated food, water and animals. According to the World Health Organization, non-typhoidal salmonella infection affects more than 95 million people globally each year, leading to an estimated 2 million deaths annually. There is no approved vaccine for salmonella in humans, and some strains are antibiotic-resistant. But just as scientists spent decades doing the ...

New study examines social network's relation to binge drinking among adults

New study examines social networks relation to binge drinking among adults
2021-05-07
For some people, social gatherings can be a time to imbibe. And for some, that can turn into a time to overindulge. But how do your neighborhood and your social network affect binge drinking? Along with colleagues at the RAND corporation in Santa Monica, Indiana University researcher Hank Green examined how neighborhood and social network characteristics were related to adult binge drinking. He and his co-authors found that both factors play a role in how much someone drinks, information that can help us better understand binge drinking among adults. The study was published in the journal Health and Place, indexed in Science Direct and PubMed. "Adults living ...

Archaeologists pinpoint population for the Greater Angkor region

Archaeologists pinpoint population for the Greater Angkor region
2021-05-07
EUGENE, Ore. -- May 7, 2021 -- Long-running archaeological research, boosted by airborne lidar sensing and machine-learning algorithms, finds that Cambodia's Greater Angkor region was home to 700,000-900,000 people. The sprawling city, which thrived from the 9th to 15th centuries, has slowly revealed its forest-hidden past to archaeologists, but its total population has been a mystery. The new estimate, made possible by a study designed at the University of Oregon, is the first for the entire 3,000-square-kilometer mix of urban and rural landscape. The findings published May 7 in the journal ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Imaging detects transient “hypoxic pockets” in the mouse brain

Dissolved organic matter could be used to track and improve the health of freshwaters

Indoor air quality standards in public buildings would boost health and economy, say international experts

Positive associations between premenstrual disorders and perinatal depression

New imaging method illuminates oxygen's journey in the brain

Researchers discover key gene for toxic alkaloid in barley

New approach to monitoring freshwater quality can identify sources of pollution, and predict their effects

Bidirectional link between premenstrual disorders and perinatal depression

Cell division quality control ‘stopwatch’ uncovered

Vaccine protects cattle from bovine tuberculosis, may eliminate disease

Andrew Siemion to receive the SETI Institute’s 2024 Drake Award

New study shows how the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus enters our cells

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy proves effective for locally advanced penile squamous cell carcinoma

Study flips treatment paradigm in bilateral Wilms tumor, shows resistance to chemotherapy may point toward favorable outcomes

Doctors received approximately $12.1 billion from drug and device makers between 2013-2022

Discovery suggests new strategy against follicular lymphoma

Making the future too bright: how wishful thinking can point us in the wrong direction

Ochsner Health named to Newsweek’s America’s Greatest Workplaces 2024 for Job Starters

Three-year study of young stars with NASA’s Hubble enters new chapter

North Carolina takes the lead in PFAs research with Collaboratory’s $3 million investment to expand the state’s research capacity

Is it the school, or the students?

Exploring the relationship between HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis and the incidence of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis – findings from Denmark

Music: Song lyrics have become simpler and more repetitive since 1980

Environment: More than half of Colorado River’s water used to irrigate crops

When inequality is more than “skin-deep”: Social status leaves traces in the epigenome of spotted hyenas in Tanzania

Study explores the future of at-home cancer treatment

First performance standards published to measure the effectiveness of lifestyle medicine treatments

To keep volunteers, connect them

Suppressing boredom at work hurts future productivity, study shows

Older brain cells linger unexpectedly before their death

[Press-News.org] Study supports recommendations to avoid pregnancy for at least 12 months after obesity surgery