Clinical Research Directory

Time-restricted Eating Among Pregnant Females With Severe Obesity

In the United States, a body mass index (BMI) of at least 35.0 kg/m2 affects about 15% of women of reproductive age. Severe obesity is a significant predictor of adverse perinatal outcomes including gestational diabetes mellitus, pre-eclampsia, premature birth, and at its most severe, fetal death, birth defects and a three-fold greater risk of maternal mortality. Observational studies suggest weight maintenance and even modest body fat loss and altering the maternal metabolic milieu (availability of glucose and lipids) in the gestational period may be important to reducing perinatal health risks among pregnant females with severe obesity. The proposed research aims to assess time-restricted eating in the 2nd and 3rd trimesters of pregnancy to explore the effects on maternal weight, and perinatal health outcomes compared to standard clinical care.

Healthy for Two-Home Visiting (H42-HV): Health Coaching for Pregnant Women

The purpose of this study is to compare the effectiveness of H42-HV integrated into home visiting compared with usual home visiting services in reducing postpartum weight retention (difference between pre-pregnancy weight and weight at 6 months postpartum) among pregnant and postpartum participants. The overall goal is to improve long-term cardiometabolic health.

Gestational Diabetes Monitoring and Management

The primary goal is to predict the clinical outcomes of mother and baby using blood glucose and other routinely collected clinical data in pregnancy to predict adverse outcomes at birth in women with GDM. The secondary goal is to develop models to predict optimal blood glucose testing schedules for pregnant women. Exploratory Objectives are (1) to understand patterns of dosage and / or medication choice and (2) to describe different phenotypes of gestational diabetes based on multiple data input.

Fitbit Device Use in Overweight Pregnancy

There are set guidelines for weight gain developed by the Institute of Medicine in pregnancy but about three quarters of women gain an inappropriate weight during pregnancy. Many studies have assessed ways to decrease weight gain in these women who gain excess weight, usually through a combination of diet and exercise. Still, often these interventions are difficult to implement, expensive, or have low acceptability. Wearable Fitbit devices have been on the market for years and slowly becoming more inexpensive and easier to use. Previous studies on non-pregnant women have shown that using the device can help reduce weight gain. In addition, small studies in pregnant women have shown they are accurate for measuring steps and have high acceptability and retention rates. The ability of the Fitbit to assess metrics of sleep including sleep duration and quality will also be assessed. This project aims to provide overweight and obese pregnant women at the beginning of their pregnancy with the Fitbit device and with regular follow-up to assess if there is effectiveness in increasing the rate of women who meet weight gain guidelines compared to women without the device along with measuring aspects of sleep.