Published in:
01-10-2011 | Clinical Research
Pregnancy after Bariatric Surgery: 39 Pregnancies Follow-up in a Multidisciplinary Team
Published in: Obesity Surgery | Issue 10/2011
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Background
We investigate the outcomes of pregnancy in women who undergone restrictive–malabsorptive procedure at Centro da Obesidade Mórbida–Hospital São Lucas (COM HSL-PUCRS), Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Methods
All pregnancies started after the bariatric surgery and with estimated due date until June 2008 were eligible for the study. Only the first pregnancy of each patient was included in the data analysis. Data was collected from medical records.
Results
Forty seven pregnancies were identified in 41 women. Eight of them were ineligible. There were 30 complete pregnancies and nine miscarriages (23%). Cesarean delivery was performed in 69% of the complete pregnancies. Mature infants occurred in 93.1%. Twelve pregnancies (30.8%) occurred in the first year after surgery. Vitamin B12 was low in 53.4% patients; folic acid in 16.1%, iron in 6.7%, ferritin in 41.7%, calcium in 16.7%, and albumin in 10.3% of the patients. Nineteen women (79.2%) had no complication during the pregnancy and two (8.3%) presented with internal hernia. The average of newborns weight and length on delivery were 3,037 g and 48.07 cm, respectively. Children from pregnancies started in the first year of post operatory had similar outcomes of children from pregnancies started after 1 year of surgery.
Conclusions
Pregnancy after bariatric surgery is safe and has fewer complications than pregnancy in morbidly obese women. However, the recommendation to delay the pregnancy for at least 12–18 months post-operatively should be kept.