Prepregnancy body mass index and visceral fat exhibit divergent associations with metabolic factors in pregnant women with obesity: A Norwegian cohort study

Abstract

Pregnancy involves changes in maternal metabolism that differ between normal-weight women and women with overweight or obesity, including changes in glucose, insulin, lipids, and adipokines. These changes contribute to altered risk profiles for adverse outcomes for both mother and child during pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum. We explored associations between visceral fat and prepregnancy body mass index (pBMI), respectively, with glucose and lipid metabolism, as well as with adipokines and C-reactive protein (CRP), measured fasting in early and late pregnancy. We hypothesized that among women with pBMI ≥35 kg/m², visceral fat measured around gestational week 18 (visceral fat18) would show associations with greater number of metabolic variables during pregnancy, than pBMI.