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Stress during pregnancy and gestational weight gain

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Abstract

Objective

To evaluate the association between prenatal stress and gestational weight gain (GWG).

Study design

This was an analysis of women recruited between 2013–2015 from four sites in the US. We tested associations between responses at 32–35 weeks to the Life Experiences Survey (LES), a 37-item measure of events and perceived stress, and GWG categories. Bivariable comparisons and logistic regression were used to estimate the association between the total LES score and the odds of achieving adequate GWG.

Result

Among the 725 women, those with adequate GWG had lower median LES scores (5) compared to women with inadequate (7) and excessive (7) GWG, p = 0.02. After adjusting for age, initial BMI, income, education, marital status and gestational diabetes, lower LES scores (multiples of the median) were associated with adequate GWG (aOR 0.81, 95% CI 0.67–0.98).

Conclusion

Lower reported stress, as measured by the LES, was associated with a greater chance of women achieving adequate GWG. This relationship highlights the potential for interventions directed toward psychosocial support to have salutary effects upon GWG.

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Funding

This study was supported by: HHSN275201200007—HHSN27500005. National Children’s Study: Vanguard Study—Task Order 5: Stress and Cortisol Measurement for the National Children’s Study (AB) and K23HD076010 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development of the National Institutes of Health (MAK).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA

    Michelle A. Kominiarek & William Grobman

  2. Department of Education and Social Policy, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA

    Emma Adam

  3. Development, Health and Disease Research Program, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

    Claudia Buss, Sonja Entringer & Pathik D. Wadhwa

  4. Charite, Universitatsmedizin, Berlin, Germany

    Claudia Buss & Sonja Entringer

  5. Division of Adolescent Medicine, Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Jennifer Culhane

  6. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Hyagriv Simhan

  7. Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA

    Kwang-Youn Kim

  8. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, NorthShore University Health System and University of Chicago Priztker School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA

    Lauren Keenan-Devlin & Ann Borders

Authors
  1. Michelle A. Kominiarek
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  2. William Grobman
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  3. Emma Adam
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  4. Claudia Buss
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  5. Jennifer Culhane
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  6. Sonja Entringer
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  7. Hyagriv Simhan
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  8. Pathik D. Wadhwa
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  9. Kwang-Youn Kim
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  10. Lauren Keenan-Devlin
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  11. Ann Borders
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michelle A. Kominiarek.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Kominiarek, M.A., Grobman, W., Adam, E. et al. Stress during pregnancy and gestational weight gain. J Perinatol 38, 462–467 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-018-0051-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-018-0051-9

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