Does COVID-19 During Pregnancy Leads To Risk Of Obesity In Children? Read What Experts Say

The globe has experienced a massive hike in the number of COVID-9 cases nowadays. The aftermath of the virus on one’s body and health has several variations, so as with a pregnant woman. If you are pregnant or recently pregnant or you are breastfeeding, you probably should concern about the impact of the virus. According to a new study, children born to mothers who contract COVID-19 during pregnancy may be more likely to develop obesity.

Since 2019, over 100 million COVID-19 cases have been reported in the United States, and there is limited information on the long-term health effects of the infection.

As per a recent medical study, pregnant women make up 9 per cent of reproductive-aged women with COVID-19, which exposes millions of babies to maternal infection during foetal development over the next five years.

Experts on the risk of obesity in children

“Our findings suggest that children exposed in utero to maternal COVID-19 have an altered growth pattern in early life that may increase their risk of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease over time,” said Lindsay T Fourman, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Mass.

“There is still a lot of research needed to understand the effects of COVID-19 on pregnant women and their children,” she said.

Recently, the researchers studied 150 infants born to mothers who had COVID-19 during pregnancy and found they had lower birth weight followed by greater weight gain in the first year of life as compared to 130 babies whose mothers did not have a prenatal infection.

These changes have been associated with an increased risk for obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease in childhood and beyond.

According to research issued by Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, MD of Massachusetts General Hospital, Andrea G Edlow said, “Our findings emphasise the importance of long-term follow-up of children exposed in utero to maternal COVID-19 infection, as well as the widespread implementation of COVID-19 prevention strategies among pregnant individuals.”

“Larger studies with longer follow-up duration are needed to confirm these associations,” she said.