Feto-Maternal Outcome in Supervised Pregnancies of the Overweight Parturient

Abstract

Objective To compare the feto-maternal outcome in obese and matched non-obese parturients Materials and Methods 106 obese, pregnant women and an equal number of non–obese matched controls who booked and delivered in LASUTH were studied. Biosocial data as well as feto-maternal parameters were recorded and analyzed. Results Increasing maternal age and parity were significantly associated with obesity in this study. There was no significant association between maternal weight and either prematurity or postdatism. PIH was the commonest antenatal complication in the obese group. None of the patients in the non-obese group had abnormal presentations. Caesarean section was commoner and the incidence of spontaneous vertex delivery lower in the obese group. The mean birth weight of babies in the obese group was significantly higher than that of the control group. 20.8% of the obese group had macrosomic babies compared with only 5.7% of the non obese group. No statistically significant differences were demonstrated in the incidence of neonatal complications, estimated blood loss at delivery and duration of hospital stay. Conclusions Overweight parturients in this study tend to be older, of higher parity, prone to pregnancy induced hypertension, have a higher incidence of caesarean sections and are predisposed to having bigger babies.

Keywords: Diabetes, obesity, fetus, pregnancy, Apgar, forceps