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Correspondence on the article “Gestational body weight gain and risk of low birth weight or macrosomia in women of Japan: a nationwide cohort study”

International Journal of Obesity volume 46, page 1410 (2022)Cite this article

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We read the article by Hiroyuki Uchinuma et al. with great interest and appreciation. The authors wrote in the measure section that outcome variables in this study were low birth weight (LBW), macrosomia, and moderate and severe hypertensive disorders in pregnancy (HDP). However, moderate HDP was not defined in this study. Severe HDP was defined in this study as systolic blood pressure ≥140 mmHg, diastolic blood pressure ≥90 mmHg, and/or proteinuria (≥2 g/day) [1]. This definition contradicts the definition written in the article by Alessia Mammaro et al., where severe preeclampsia has been defined as systolic bp ≥160 mm Hg or diastolic bp ≥110 mm Hg taken at least 6 h apart with the patient on bed rest, proteinuria ≥5 g/24 h or ≥3+ on two random samples 4 h apart [2].

Second, the authors mentioned that pre-pregnancy height and body weight, smoking history, past history of diseases, and children’s height and body weight were self-reported values [1]. We think it is difficult to correctly recall the pre-pregnancy weight, children’s height, and weight. Hence, the result of this study based on self-reported values is subject to recall bias.

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Data availability

There has been no data collection from any human or animal subject (or participant) in this study. The data that support the findings of this study are available in the article referenced in this manuscript. These data are available in the public domain.

References

  1. Uchinuma H, Tsuchiya K, Sekine T, Horiuchi S, Kushima M, Otawa S, et al. Gestational body weight gain and risk of low birth weight or macrosomia in women of Japan: a nationwide cohort study. Int J Obes. 2021;45:2666–74.

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  2. Mammaro A, Carrara S, Cavaliere A, Ermito S, Dinatale A, Pappalardo EM, et al. Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. J Prenat Med. 2009;3:1–5.

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Acknowledgements

There are no funders to report for this submission. No funders are involved in writing, deciding to submit, or to any aspect pertaining to the study such as study design, collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, writing the report, and the decision to submit the report for publication. Authors have not been paid to write this manuscript by any company, agency, institutional, or corporate affiliations. Authors have not received any support or any grants, consulting fees, or honoraria related to the study, fees related to data monitoring boards or statistical analysis, funds for writing or reviewing the manuscript, nonmonetary support such as writing or administrative assistance, or provision of equipment. I, Dheeraj Sharma (corresponding author) state that all authors had full access to the full data in the study and accept responsibility to submit for publication. No financial disclosures were reported by the authors of this paper. There are no financial relationships with entities that supported the study or that might reasonably be considered to be stakeholders in the overall research topic. There are not any commercial associations, current and over the past 5 years, that might pose a conflict of interest, including but not limited to consultancies, investment companies, stock or other equity ownership, stock options, patent-licensing arrangements, payments for conducting or publicizing the study, employment, board membership, expert testimony, gifts, industry grants (active or pending), and honoraria. There are no associations with companies that make a competing product.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Community Medicine, Muzaffarnagar Medical College, Opposite Begrajpur Industrial Area, 115 Km Stone, Delhi-Dehradun Road, Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Dheeraj Sharma

  2. Department of Kaya Chikitsa, Sham-e-Ghausia Minority Ayurved Medical College and Hospital, Ghazipur, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Poonam Joshi

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  1. Dheeraj Sharma
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Contributions

DS and PJ have equal contributions in literature search, figures/tables, study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, and writing. Both of the authors have substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of the data. Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content. Final approval of the version published. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

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Correspondence to Dheeraj Sharma.

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Sharma, D., Joshi, P. Correspondence on the article “Gestational body weight gain and risk of low birth weight or macrosomia in women of Japan: a nationwide cohort study”. Int J Obes 46, 1410 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41366-022-01112-4

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