Early Pregnancy (≤ 12 Months) After Bariatric Surgery: Does It Really Influence Maternal and Perinatal Outcomes?

backgroundCurrent guidelines do not recommend pregnancy within 12 months after bariatric surgery; however, there is a lack of consensus and scientific evidence to support this. The study is to evaluate the influence of early pregnancy (≤ 12 months) after bariatric surgery on maternal and perinatal outcomes.

methodsPubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library were searched for all studies comparing maternal and perinatal outcomes for surgery-to-conception intervals of ≤ 12 months and > 12 months.

resultsA total of 13 studies were included. The pooled results showed that early pregnancy was associated with insufficient gestational weight gain (WMD: - 6.04, 95%CI [- 7.39, - 4.15], p < 0.01). No significant difference was found in gestational diabetes, gestational hypertension, preeclampsia, caesarean section, and postpartum hemorrhage between surgery-to-conception intervals of ≤ 12 months and > 12 months. There were also no significant differences between the two groups regarding the neonatal outcomes, including preterm birth, small for gestational age, large for gestational age, macrosomia, birth defect, neonatal intensive care unit admission, and Apgar score ≤ 7 within 5 min.

conclusionsEarly pregnancy (≤ 12 months) after bariatric surgery seems have no significant adverse effects on maternal and perinatal outcomes, with the exception of insufficient gestational weight gain. Pregnancy after bariatric surgery should be personalized based on the individual patient. Further studies on larger cohorts are warranted.