Gestational and Postpartum Weight Trajectories Among Women With and Without Asthma.

Asthma leads to increased weight gain in nonpregnant populations, but studies have not examined this association within the context of pregnancy. This study examines the association between asthma and perinatal weight trajectories in the Breathe - Wellbeing, Environment, Lifestyle, and Lung Function Study (2015-2019). Multilevel linear spline models adjusted for age, race/ethnicity, income, marital status, education, cigarette smoking, parity, study site, and pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI; kg/m2) were used to examine differences in perinatal weight trajectories between women with (n=299) and without (n=101) asthma. Secondary analyses assessed whether associations differed by asthma phenotypes. At 40-weeks gestation, women with asthma gained 16.2 (95% Confidence Interval (CI): 14.6, 17.7) kg and women without asthma gained 13.1 (95% CI: 10.9, 15.4) kg. At 3 months postpartum, women with asthma retained 10.4 (95% CI: 8.9, 11.9) kg and women without asthma retained 8.0 (95% CI: 5.9, 10.2) kg. Among women with asthma, exercise-induced asthma and step 3 asthma medications were associated with excess gestational weight gain. This study suggests that women with asthma gain and retain more weight during pregnancy and postpartum than women without asthma.