Relations Between Prenatal Sleep Health and Maternal Weight Retention 2 to 7 Years After a First Birth: The NuMoM2b-HHS
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Background Poor prenatal sleep health is associated with greater gestational weight gain, but the contributions to longer-term maternal weight retention remain unclear. Purpose To examine associations between prenatal sleep health across multiple domains and maternal weight retention 2–7 years after a first birth. Methods Participants were from the nuMoM2b-Heart Health Study. Self-reported sleep was assessed during early (6-13 6/7 weeks) and mid-pregnancy (22–28 6/7 weeks) across six domains: regularity, quality, sleepiness, timing, efficiency, and duration. A multidimensional sleep health (MSH) score reflected the number of domains meeting healthy thresholds. Outcomes included maternal weight retention, total and substantial ( > 11 lbs.), from pre-pregnancy to 2–7 years after a first birth. Associations were estimated using adjusted linear regression for total weight retention and Poisson regression with robust variance for substantial weight retention. Results The sample included 3,661 individuals with data in early (n = 2,962) and mid-pregnancy (n = 3,210). In early pregnancy, healthy sleep duration was associated with lower total weight retention, whereas healthy sleep regularity was unexpectedly associated with greater retention. In contrast, during mid-pregnancy, a higher MSH score was associated with a lower risk of substantial weight retention (RR = 0.96, 95% CI: 0.93–0.99). Healthy sleep duration and quality were the two individual domains associated with lower weight retention (2–3 lbs.). Conclusions In a prospective cohort of pregnant nulliparous individuals, healthy prenatal sleep, particularly during mid-pregnancy, was associated with less maternal weight retention 2-7 years after delivery. Future studies should estimate the causal effects of sleep health on long-term maternal weight retention.
Source: medRxiv
Authors: Marquis. S. Hawkins, Rya B Clifton, Michele D. Levine, Namhyun Kim, Christina Personette, Mattina A. Davenport, Andrea C. Kozai, Rachel Kolko Conlon, David Phan, William Grobman, Jenna T. Ryan, Angela C. Ranzini, Jessica M. Page, David M. Haas, C. Noel Bairey Merz, George Saade, Lynn M. Yee, Phyllis C. Zee, Judith H. Chung, Janet Catov
Institutions: University of Pittsburgh, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Abigail Wexner Research Institute, The Ohio State University, Brown University, University of Utah, University of Utah Health Care, MetroHealth, Case Western Reserve University, Intermountain Healthcare, Indiana University School of Medicine, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Old Dominion University, Northwestern University, University of California, Irvine, UC Irvine Health, Magee-Womens Research Institute
Language: English
Subfield: Obstetrics and Gynecology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funders: Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Awards: G1981183770, G2003648654, Preterm Birth in Nulliparous Women: An Understudied Population at Great Risk, G2208521114, Pregnancy as a Window to Future Cardiovascular Health: Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes, Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute, G2887131468, Pregnancy as a Window to Future Cardiovascular Health, Preterm Birth in Nulliparous Women: An Understudied Population at Great Risk, G3292917717, Preterm Birth in Nulliparous Women: An Understudied Population at Great Risk , Adverse Outcomes in Nulliparous Pregnancies: The Ohio Collaborative, G4052561215, G41180667, G4172225262, G4206105981, Pregnancy as a Window for Future Cardiovascular Health, Pregnancy as a Window to Future Cardiovascular Health, G4853807150, G4947133686, G5248658720, Preterm Birth in Nulliparous Women: An Understudied Population at Great Risk, Pregnancy as a Window to Future Cardiovascular Health, Pregnancy as a Window to Future Cardiovascular Health, Pregnancy as a Window to Future Cardiovascular Health, Preterm Birth in Nulliparous Women: An Understudied Population at Great Risk, G599474510, Pregnancy as a Window to Future Cardiovascular Health, G625149575, G630177879, Prevention of Preterm Birth in high Risk Nulliparous Patients, G7328572603, Preterm Birth in Nulliparous Women: An Understudied Population at Great Risk, G7923187050, G7932595472, Pregnancy as a Window to Future Cardiovascular Health, G8435049774, The Microvascular Aging and Eicosanoids - Women's Evaluation of Systemic Aging Tenacity (MAE-WEST) ("You are never too old to become younger!") Specialized Center for Research Excellence (SCORE), Institute for Clinical and Translational Science, Dissecting the Genetic Etiology of Preterm Birth in Nulliparous Women, Continuation of the NuMoM2b Heart Health Study
OpenAlex ID: W7204232571