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Is maternal obesity associated with sustained inflammation in extremely low gestational age newborns?

Jelske W van der Burg1, Elizabeth N Allred, Thomas F McElrath

  • 1Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, United States; Department of Health Sciences and the EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Early Human Development
|October 5, 2013
PubMed

Insights

Maternal obesity may increase inflammation in very preterm newborns delivered for medical reasons. This effect was not observed in spontaneous deliveries, suggesting competing inflammatory factors in those cases.

Area of Science:

  • Neonatal research
  • Maternal-fetal medicine
  • Inflammation and immunology

Background:

  • Offspring of obese women face higher systemic inflammation risks.
  • Blood inflammatory protein levels in preterm infants of obese mothers remain underreported.

Purpose of the Study:

  • Compare inflammatory protein concentrations in preterm infants based on maternal pre-pregnancy BMI (overweight/obese vs. lower BMI).
  • Investigate the influence of delivery indication (spontaneous vs. maternal/fetal) on these associations.

Main Methods:

  • Prospective cohort study of 939 infants born before 28 weeks gestation.
  • Measured 25 inflammation-related proteins in blood samples collected on postnatal days 1, 7, and 14.
  • Analyzed data separately for spontaneous and medically indicated deliveries.

Main Results:

  • Maternal BMI was not linked to elevated proteins in infants from spontaneous deliveries.
  • Infants of overweight or obese mothers were more likely to have elevated inflammation proteins if delivered for maternal (e.g., preeclampsia) or fetal indications.

Conclusions:

  • Maternal pre-pregnancy overweight and obesity may promote a pro-inflammatory state in very preterm neonates delivered for medical reasons.
  • The absence of this association in spontaneous deliveries might be due to competing inflammatory risks.
Abstract

Keywords:
InflammationMaternal obesityPrematurity

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