The results show that pregnant women in North Iceland have increased their body weight steadily over the past 19 years, and now 30% of them are obese at the beginning of their pregnancy. The proportion of women with normal weight decreased by one-quarter, from 53% to 40%. “The results from other countries show similar trends, but the US figures are the most similar to our results,” says Laufey Hrólfsdóttir, Head of the Department of Education and Science, who is responsible for the project.

The causes of obesity are multifaceted and a complex interaction between environment and genetics. Sleep, stress, trauma, health behavior are important factors in this relationship. Pregnancy complications and birth defects are more common among obese women, and their children are also more likely to develop obesity later in life.
"It is extremely important to find the women who need more support right at the beginning of pregnancy. It is important to limit risk factors that are modifiable regardless of weight, so we work on prevention from the beginning," says Laufey.

Kamilla Dóra Jónsdóttir, a medical student, is the first author of the paper, which was granted by the Akureyri Hospital Research Fund and the University of Akureyri Science Fund. “The whole process was very educational and a very good first impression of research, where I got to practice in most aspects of research - from text writing to statistics and practical issues - but it was key to have good support in the research group,” Kamilla says.

“The main strength of the study is that it covers a very long period of 19 years, as well as the large population, but we had information on 7105 women in total or 88% of all women who gave birth at SAk during the period. The registrations in the review database of the maternity ward at SAk have been standardised and carried out by only the chief physician and the chief midwife in the same manner during this period. These registrations are also error-tested every year when processing the department’s annual report, because these are unique quality data that we are working with,” says Laufey.

Kamilla is currently finishing her doctorate at the University of Aarhus and took part in the congress for medical students, which is held every year in March. About 100 medical students from four universities in Denmark gathered to present their research. Kamilla presented the results of the research to the congress with a standing ovation.

In addition to Kamilla and Laufey, co-authors of the article are Alexander Kristinn Smárason, chief physician of obstetrics and gynecology, Ingibjörg Jónsdóttir, department head of the obstetrics ward, Björn Gunnarsson, specialist in anesthesia and intensive care medicine and Þórhallur Ingi Halldórsson, professor at the Department of Food and Nutrition at HÍ.

Read the article here (only in Icelandic).