Abstract
The objective of this study was to assess the impact of increased pre-pregnancy maternal body mass index (BMI) on perinatal outcomes in term, singleton pregnancies who received prenatal care in community-based practices. The sample of 1996 infants included in the study was drawn from the All Our Babies Study, a prospective pregnancy cohort from Calgary. Multivariable logistic regression explored the relationship between the main outcomes, infant birth weight, Apgar score, admission to neonatal intensive care (NICU) and newborn duration of hospitalization, and BMI prior to pregnancy. Approximately 10% of the infants were macrosoms, 1.5% had a low Apgar score (<7 at 5 min), 6% were admitted to intensive care and 96% were discharged within 48 h after delivery. Although the infants of overweight and obese women were more likely to have increased birth weight as compared to infants of normal weight women, there were no differences in Apgar score, admission to NICU, or length of postnatal hospital stay among groups. This study suggests that in otherwise healthy term, singleton pregnancies, obesity does not seem to increase the risk of severe fetal impairment, neonatal admission to intensive care or duration of postnatal hospitalization.
Highlights
Perinatal outcomes of maternal overweight and obesity in term infants: a population-based cohort study in Canada
The primary question to be answered was to determine the relationships between increased maternal body weight before pregnancy and fetal vitality and wellbeing at delivery defined as Apgar score, neonatal intensive care admission and length of hospital stay
Of the 1996 participants included in the study, 1313 (65.8%) were normal weight, 427 (23.6%) were overweight and 211 (10.6%) were obese, from which 31 had body mass index (BMI) $ 40 kg/m2
Summary
Perinatal outcomes of maternal overweight and obesity in term infants: a population-based cohort study in Canada. Several studies report on adverse perinatal outcomes in severely obese mothers[17,21] but few describe the impact of maternal obesity from the remainder of BMI classification categories on Apgar score, newborn admission to the intensive care or neonatal length of stay[16]. Most studies describe the perinatal outcomes in heterogeneous populations, including both preterm and term pregnancies[21]; the overall morbidity at birth may be different in obese women from otherwise healthy pregnancy as compared to women with additional risk factors. The primary question to be answered was to determine the relationships between increased maternal body weight before pregnancy and fetal vitality and wellbeing at delivery defined as Apgar score, neonatal intensive care admission and length of hospital stay. This study develops previous work regarding the influence of maternal BMI on fetal intrauterine growth
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