Inflammation and weight gain in reproductive-aged women

To investigate whether mid-pregnancy inflammation predicts the rate of subsequent gestational weight gain (GWG) and whether inflammation at 3 years post-partum is associated with weight and waist circumference (WC) gain during a median of 4.4 years follow-up.

This study quantified CRP, IL-6 and TNF-α in plasma of 886 women at ∼28 weeks gestation and calculated GWG rate (kg/week) from blood draw to delivery. At ∼3 years post-partum, CRP and IL-6 were assessed from 351 women and weight and WC were measured at 3 and 7 years post-partum. This study used linear regression to investigate the relationship between mid-pregnancy inflammation and subsequent GWG rate and the association of inflammation at 3 years post-partum with weight and WC change during follow-up.

After accounting for confounders, a small dose-response association of mid-gestation CRP with subsequent GWG was observed; women in the 4th CRP quartile gained weight at 0.05 (95% CI = 0.01, 0.10) kg/week faster than those in the 1st quartile. Neither IL-6 nor TNF-α was related to GWG. Post-partum inflammation was not associated with subsequent weight or WC gain.

Higher mid-gestation CRP was related to modestly higher subsequent GWG rate. Future studies are warranted to confirm these findings.