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Early Pregnancy (≤ 12 Months) After Bariatric Surgery: Does It Really Influence Maternal and Perinatal Outcomes?

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Abstract

Background

Current guidelines do not recommend pregnancy within 12 months after bariatric surgery; however, there is a lack of consensus and scientific evidence to support this. The study is to evaluate the influence of early pregnancy (≤ 12 months) after bariatric surgery on maternal and perinatal outcomes.

Methods

PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library were searched for all studies comparing maternal and perinatal outcomes for surgery-to-conception intervals of ≤ 12 months and > 12 months.

Results

A total of 13 studies were included. The pooled results showed that early pregnancy was associated with insufficient gestational weight gain (WMD: − 6.04, 95%CI [− 7.39, − 4.15], p < 0.01). No significant difference was found in gestational diabetes, gestational hypertension, preeclampsia, caesarean section, and postpartum hemorrhage between surgery-to-conception intervals of ≤ 12 months and > 12 months. There were also no significant differences between the two groups regarding the neonatal outcomes, including preterm birth, small for gestational age, large for gestational age, macrosomia, birth defect, neonatal intensive care unit admission, and Apgar score ≤ 7 within 5 min.

Conclusions

Early pregnancy (≤ 12 months) after bariatric surgery seems have no significant adverse effects on maternal and perinatal outcomes, with the exception of insufficient gestational weight gain. Pregnancy after bariatric surgery should be personalized based on the individual patient. Further studies on larger cohorts are warranted.

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Author information

Author notes

  1. Wenhui Chen and Yalun Liang contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, No. 613 Huangpu Avenue West, Guangzhou, China

    Wenhui Chen, Yalun Liang, Guoji Chen, Jie Guo, Shiliang Dong, Cunchuan Wang & Zhiyong Dong

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  1. Wenhui Chen
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on behalf of Chinese Obesity, Metabolic Surgery Collaborative

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Cunchuan Wang or Zhiyong Dong.

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Key Points

1. Early pregnancy was associated with insufficient gestational weight gain.

2. Early pregnancy seems not to have significant adverse effects on maternal and perinatal outcomes.

3. Pregnancy after bariatric surgery should be personalized based on the individual patient.

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Chen, W., Liang, Y., Chen, G. et al. Early Pregnancy (≤ 12 Months) After Bariatric Surgery: Does It Really Influence Maternal and Perinatal Outcomes?. OBES SURG 32, 979–990 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11695-021-05800-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11695-021-05800-4

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