Weight-loss surgery between pregnancies tied to better outcomes

Obese women who have weight-loss surgery between pregnancies may be less likely to experience complications like high blood pressure and preterm births in their second pregnancy, a recent study suggests.

Researchers examined hospital records from 2002 to 2014 for more than 1.6 million women 15 to 45 years old in New South Wales, Australia. The study focused on 326 women who had bariatric surgery between their first and second pregnancies and 461,917 women who had two pregnancies without a weight-loss operation in between.

The study found that for obese women who had the surgery between pregnancies, the risk of complications dropped markedly from the first pregnancy to the second, although it didn’t reach the level seen in the general population of women.

“The odds of adverse pregnancy outcomes among women who have bariatric surgery do not decrease to the level observed in the general birthing population; however, there was substantial improvement,” lead study author I Ibiebele of Royal North Shore Hospital in New South Wales and colleagues write in BJOG. Read Complete Article