LIFE-Moms-Phoenix was a randomized clinical trial in overweight and obese pregnant women with the objective of testing the effects of an intensive lifestyle intervention on optimizing gestational weight gain, control of maternal hyperglycemia, and post-partum return to pre-pregnancy weight. The Phoenix center was conducted in collaboration between the Phoenix Indian Medical Center (PIMC) nurse midwifery and obstetrics services and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). It is part of the LIFE-Moms Consortium consisting of six other clinical centers that follow similar protocols and a research coordination unit. The study completed recruitment and follow-up of all women through delivery and 1 year after birth. Following this clinical trial, we are designing an observational study to evaluate, in women enrolled in pregnancy, the effects maternal, prenatal, and birth variables on the growth and health of the children of these pregnancies. Primary consortium results on gestational weight gain. The LIFE-Moms clinical trials aimed to evaluate the effects of varied lifestyle intervention programs designed to ameliorate excess gestational weight gain (GWG) in pregnant women with overweight or obesity compared with standard care, including effects on pregnancy outcomes. For the 1,150 women randomized, the percent with excess GWG per week was significantly lower in the intervention group compared with the standard care group (61.8% vs. 75.0%; odds ratio 95% CI: 0.52 0.40 to 0.67). Total GWG from enrollment to 36 weeks gestation was also lower in the intervention group (8.1 5.2 vs. 9.7 5.4 kg; mean difference: 1.59 kg 95% CI:2.18 to 0.99 kg). The results from the individual trials were similar. The intervention and standard care groups did not differ in preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, cesarean delivery, or birth weight. In conclusion, behavioral lifestyle interventions focusing primarily on diet and physical activity among women with overweight and obesity resulted in a significantly lower proportion of women with excess GWG. This modest beneficial effect was consistent across diverse intervention modalities in a large, racially and socioeconomically diverse US population of pregnant women.(1)
