Surgeons are often asked the question by their female bariatric patients: “Is it safe to get pregnant after gastric bypass surgery”?
Obesity can increase the risks of pregnancy in several way including: increasing risk of gestational diabetes, gestational high blood pressure ad pre-eclampsia. It has also been associated with increased risk of spontaneous abortions, premature labour and even death. Of course obesity itself can reduce fertility in the first instance.
A recent study of 256 women who became pregnant after bypass surgery has been published by a team from Argentina.
About half of these women became pregnant prior the bypass being performed and therefore constituted the non-weight loss surgery pregnant group. The average weight of this group was 118.5kg with BMI 44.9 kg/m2.
Of those followed who got pregnant after having previous Gastric Bypass surgery, the average BMI was 29.5 kg/m2.
Gestational diabetes diagnoses were over five times lower in the group who had had gastric bypass surgery. Pregnancy related hypertension and pre-eclampsia rates were approximately half in the gastric bypass group.
Two patients in the gastric bypass group required surgery to deal with complications during their pregnancy which may have been related to the bypass itself.
This article adds to the large body of accumulated evidence that weight loss surgery can not only make pregnancy occur more easily due to improved fertility but make it safer for both mother and child.