Obesity and extreme thinness cause risk pregnancies.

Spain, April 2012.- Obese women are in danger of suffering problems in pregnancy, childbirth and the health of the baby. A new study of more than 3,000 pregnant women confirms this and, in addition, reveals that the low weight of the mother is also related to complications specific.

researchers of the Hospital Universitario Virgen de las Nieves, Granada, have identified pregnancy risks specifically related to obesity and have compared them to women with low weight to check if the extreme thinness is also a risk.

the newborn infants of women with severe or morbid obesity are more fat. Image: SINC

during pregnancy, obesity has been linked to disorders of hypertension, gestational diabetes, preterm delivery, macrosomia (large size) of the fetus and this unexplained death during childbirth ”, explains to SINC Sebastian Manzanares, first author of the work. However, there are still few data on the relationship between low weight and perinatal complications ”.

The study, published in the journal The Journal of Maternal-Fetal and Neonatal Medicine, includes a sample of 3.016 pregnant, 168 (5.5%) with thinness extreme, 2.597 (86.1%) with normal weight and 251 (8.3%) with severe or morbid obesity.

Obese mothers are at greater risk of developing hypertension and diabetes mellitus

The results reveal that obese mothers have a greater risk of developing hypertension and diabetes mellitus, and colonization by Streptococcus Group B. also in them is more frequent to be induction or practice caesarean section, both elective of urgency, and the baby suffer fetal macrosomia, acidosis at birth and perinatal mortality.

On the other hand, women with low birth weight are more likely to suffer oligohydramnios (decrease in the amount of amniotic fluid) and to give birth newborn infants of low birth weight. The incidence of preterm delivery or delay in delivery was not significantly different in relation to the weight of the mother.

Mothers with severe or morbid obesity have one higher risk of perinatal mortality and adverse outcomes, so it should receive advice on how to reduce weight and recognize the signs of early warning of possible complications ”, underlines Manzanares. however, both this group and underweight women should be considered as of ‘ high risk ’ ”.

Babies more gorditos

The new study shows that the newborns of women with severe or morbid obesity are more fat. In addition, the risk of fetal macrosomia is 2.3 times greater in this group compared to women of normal weight.

For authors, these results justify the need for counselling before pregnancy and could be a convincing argument for the modification of the weight ”. The study shows increased risk of embarking on a situation of severe or morbid obesity and underweight pregnancy ”, concludes Manzanares.

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Bibliographic reference:

Sebastian Manzanares Galán, Ángel Santalla Hernández, Irene Zúñiga, M. Setefilla bred López vico, Alicia Pineda Llorens and José Luis Gallo Vallejo. Abnormal maternal body mass index and obstetric and neonatal outcome ”. The Journal of Maternal-Fetal and Neonatal Medicine, 1 – 5, March, 2012.