[Pregnancy and obesity. II. Hormonal and metabolic changes]

28 obese women were investigated in the course of the 21st (A) and 30th (B) week of pregnancy. Increased serum levels of GH, T4 and T3 were found in both samples of blood (A and B), while serum insulin, cholesterol and triacylglycerols were increased only at time B. It was suggested that the similar increase of GH, T4 and T3 at time A and B was due to pregnancy because the level of these hormones is usually not increased in non-pregnant obese women, while hyperinsulinemia and often increased values of cholesterol and triacylglycerols are a common finding in non-pregnant obesity. This presumption was confirmed only partially--body weight and the skin folds correlated only with insulin and T3, while GH, cortisol, T4, cholesterol and triacylglycerols correlated only exceptionally. High levels of insulin and T3 may be due to overeating.