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Maternal, neonatal complications rise with increasing BMI

Prepregnancy BMI was associated with increased rates of obstetric complications, according to data presented at the Annual Clinical and Scientific Meeting of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Meike Schuster, DO, from Geisinger Health System, Danville, Pennsylvania, and colleagues also reported an increase of complications related to weight gain during pregnancy.

Researchers conducted a retrospective cohort study involving 17,393 pregnant women between January 2004 and May 2015. The women all had singleton births and were sorted based on their prepregnancy BMI, as defined by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), as well as their weight gain during pregnancy.

Schuster and colleagues investigated maternal outcomes such as gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, operative delivery, blood loss, macrosomia, shoulder dystocia, preterm delivery, fetal growth restriction and cesarean delivery. They also assessed neonatal outcomes that included respiratory distress symptoms, NICU stays, hypoglycemia and APGAR scores.

Results showed that, as BMI categories increased, so did the risk for gestational diabetes, fetal macrosomia, blood loss, respiratory distress syndrome, neonatal hypoglycemia, cesarean delivery and preeclampsia, but not other complications. Researchers reported that the risk for fetal growth restriction decreased as BMI increased.

In addition, weight gain during pregnancy was associated with a higher risk risk cesarean delivery and lower risk for preterm delivery.

"This large retrospective cohort study showed that as BMI category changed from I to II to III, there were significant increases in the rates of maternal and neonatal complications," Schuster and colleagues concluded. "In addition pregnancy complications are increased when weight gain does not conform to IOM recommendations." – by Chelsea Frajerman Pardes

Reference:

Schuster M, et al. The impact of prepregnancy BMI and pregnancy weight gain on maternal and neonatal Outcomes. Presented at: The Annual Clinical and Scientific Meeting of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists; May 14-17, 2016; Washington, D.C.

Disclosures: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.