Longitudinal Assessment of Relationships Between Health Behaviors and IL-6 in Overweight and Obese Pregnancy.

Background: Inflammation is a common factor in adverse pregnancy outcomes (APOs). Behavioral factors influence inflammatory markers and APOs but rarely have been investigated simultaneously in pregnancy. Our purpose was to determine how diet, physical activity, and obesity are associated with interleukin (IL)-6 in early and late pregnancy.

Both glycaemic control and insulin dose during pregnancy in women with type 1 diabetes are associated with neonatal anthropometric measures and placental weight.

Background: To investigate longitudinal associations of maternal glucose/HbA and insulin dose with birthweight-related outcomes in women with type 1 diabetes.

Methods: We performed a cohort study including 473 pregnant women with type 1 diabetes with singleton pregnancies. We investigated maternal self-monitored blood glucose (SMBG, mmol/L), HbA (%, mmol/mol) and insulin dose (IU/kg/day) in the three trimesters as potential independent variables, while adjusting for potential confounders.

Variations in resting energy expenditure: impact on gestational weight gain.

Background: There are significant variations in gestational weight gain, with many women gaining in excess of the Institute of Medicine guidelines. Unfortunately, efforts to improve appropriate gestational weight gain have had only limited success. To date, interventions have focused primarily on decreasing energy intake and/or increasing physical activity.

Endocrine and metabolic adaptations to pregnancy; impact of obesity.

Adaptations of maternal endocrine and metabolic homeostasis are central to successful pregnancy. They insure that an adequate and continuous supply of metabolic fuels is available for the growing fetus. Healthy pregnancy is classically described as a mild diabetogenic state with significant adjustments in both insulin production and sensitivity.

Implication of low level inflammation in the insulin resistance of adipose tissue at late pregnancy.

Insulin resistance is a characteristic of late pregnancy, and adipose tissue is one of the tissues that most actively contributes to the reduced maternal insulin sensitivity. There is evidence that pregnancy is a condition of moderate inflammation, although the physiological role of this low-grade inflammation remains unclear. The present study was designed to validate whether low-grade inflammation plays a role in the development of insulin resistance in adipose tissue during late pregnancy.