European Community's Seventh Framework Programme.

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BackgroundExcessive gestational weight gain (GWG) is associated with pregnancy complications, and Norwegian Health Authorities have adopted the GWG recommendations of the US Institute of Medicine and National Research Council (IOM). The aim of this study was to evaluate if a GWG outside the IOM recommendation in a Norwegian population is associated with increased risk of pregnancy complications like hypertension, low and high birth weight, preeclampsia, emergency caesarean delivery, and maternal post-partum weight retention (PPWR) at 6 and 18 months.MethodsThis study was performed in 56 101 pregnant women included in the prospective national Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) in the years 1999 to 2008. Women who delivered a singleton live born child during gestational week 37 to 42 were included. Maternal prepregnant and postpartum weight was collected from questionnaires at 17th week of gestation and 6 and 18 months postpartum.ResultsA weight gain less than the IOM recommendations (GWG < IOM rec.) increased the risk for giving birth to a low weight baby among normal weight nulliparous women. A weight gain higher than the IOM recommendations (GWG > IOM rec.) significantly increased the risk of pregnancy hypertension, a high birth weight baby, preeclampsia and emergency cesarean delivery in both nulliparous and parous normal weight women. Similar results were found for overweight women except for no increased risk for gestational hypertension in parous women with GWG > IOM rec. Seventy-four percent of the overweight nulliparous women and 66% of the obese women had a GWG > IOM rec. A GWG > IOM rec. resulted in increased risk of PPWR > 2 kg in all weight classes, but most women attained their prepregnant weight class by 18 months post-partum.ConclusionsFor prepregnant normal weight and overweight women a GWG > IOM rec. increased the risk for unfavorable birth outcomes in both nulliparous and parous women. A GWG > IOM rec. increased the risk of a PPWR > 2 kg at 18 months in all weight classes. This large study supports the Norwegian Health authorities’ recommendations for normal weight and overweight women to comply with the IOM rec.

We investigated the association between total and cause-specific mortality and individual measures of long-term air pollution exposure in a cohort of Norwegian men followed from 1972-1973 through 1998. Data from a follow-up study on cardiovascular risk factors among 16,209 men 40-49 years of age living in Oslo, Norway, in 1972-1973 were linked with data from the Norwegian Death Register and with estimates of average yearly air pollution levels at the participants' home addresses from 1974 to 1998. Cox proportional-hazards regression was used to estimate associations between exposure and total and cause-specific mortality. During the follow-up time 4,227 men died from a disease corresponding to an ICD-9 (International Classification of Diseases, Revision 9) code < 800. Controlling for a number of potential confounders, the adjusted risk ratio for dying was 1.08 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.06-1.11] for a 10- microg/m3 increase in average exposure to nitrogen oxides (NOx) at the home address from 1974 through 1978. Corresponding adjusted risk ratios for dying from a respiratory disease other than lung cancer were 1.16 (95% CI, 1.06-1.26); from lung cancer, 1.11 (95% CI, 1.03-1.19); from ischemic heart diseases, 1.08 (95% CI, 1.03-1.12); and from cerebrovascular diseases, 1.04 (95% CI, 0.94-1.15). The findings indicate that urban air pollution may increase the risk of dying. The effect seemed to be strongest for deaths from respiratory diseases other than lung cancer.

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