Heart Defects, Mom's Weight May Be Linked

(WebMD)  This article was written by Miranda Hitti and reviewed by Louise Chang.

Women who are overweight or obese before getting pregnant may be more likely than leaner women to have babies born with heart defects, a new study shows.

The study, published in the advance online edition of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, included the mothers of 6,440 babies born with congenital heart defects between 1997 and 2004.

In telephone interviews, the mothers reported their pre-pregnancy height, weight and various lifestyle and medical factors.

For comparison, the researchers asked the same questions of 5,673 women who had babies during the same time period without heart defects.

Compared to women with a normal body mass index (BMI), women who were overweight but not obese before pregnancy were 16 percent more likely to have a baby born with a heart defect.

By the same comparison, women who were moderately obese before pregnancy (BMI of 30-34.9) were 15 percent more likely to have a baby born with heart defects.

Women who were severely obese before pregnancy (BMI greater than 35) were 31 percent more likely to have a baby born with a heart defect.

"Congenital heart defects are the most common types of birth defect and among all birth defects, they are a leading cause of illness, death, and medical expenditures," Dr. Edwin Trevathan, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center on Birth Defects and Disabilities, says in a news release.

"Women who are obese and who are planning a pregnancy could benefit by working with their physicians to achieve a healthy weight before pregnancy," Trevathan says.

The study doesn't prove that the women's extra weight caused birth defects in their babies. Observational studies like this one can show associations, but they don't prove cause and effect.

Also, the women reported their height and weight; they weren't measured. Self reports of weight aren't always accurate, and that could have affected the results.

However, the researchers considered factors including maternal age, and they excluded mothers with type 1 or type 2 diabetes because diabetes is a strong risk factor for heart defects.

"These results support previous studies, as well as provide additional evidence, that there is an association between a woman being overweight or obese before pregnancy and certain types of heart defects," Suzanne Gilboa, an epidemiologist at the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, says in a news release.

"This provides another reason for women to maintain a healthy weight. In addition to the impact on a woman's own health and known pregnancy complications associated with maternal obesity, the baby's health could be at risk," says Gilboa, who worked on the new study.

Gilboa's study only compares the odds of having a baby with a heart defect; it doesn't show the odds that any given woman, of any size, would have a baby with a heart defect.
By Miranda Hitti
Reviewed by Louise Chang
©2005-2008 WebMD, LLC. All rights reserved

[kristyn417]

I think that these statistics are completely bogus. I spent 7 months with my daughter in a congenital heart center while she was waiting for a heart transplant and maybe 15% of the moms were overweight. I dont remember seeing a single one that was obese, and I live in Michigan, so it's not like they dont exist...

[rf35]

This is another factor that should be looked at before a couple is granted a license to breed. Along with a general genetic screening, it could greatly reduce the number of children born with serious illnesses or birth defects that could impact the rest of their lives.