Obese Mothers Have Increased Risk of Stillbirth, Infant Death

A study has shown that the risk of serious birth complications such as stillbirth and infant death was elevated among women with higher BMI.

A study on birth defects conducted by researchers at the Imperial College London reveal that women with higher body mass index before or during early pregnancy suffered an elevated risk of stillbirth, fetal death and infant death. The risk of these birth defects was highest among women who were severely obese.

Over the recent years, obesity among pregnant women has become a major health concern. Moms-to-be are often reminded that they are eating for two, but this shouldn't be an excuse to indulge in overeating as it leads to weight gain. Obesity during pregnancy has far-reaching risks of birth defects. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 60 percent of the women in U.S. enter into pregnancy with BMI above the normal weight and just 30 percent meet the recommendations.

In the current study, the researchers conducted a meta-analysis in order to evaluate the strong association between maternal BMI and the risk of birth complications such as fetal death, stillbirth and infant death.  They investigated details from medical literature and selected 38 studies that met the criteria to be added in the meta-analysis.

These studies included over 10,147 fetal deaths, over 16,274 stillbirths, over 4,311 prenatal deaths, 11,294 neonatal deaths and 4,983 infant deaths.

They noticed that even if there was a modest rise in the maternal BMI, it increased risk of fetal death, stillbirth, neonatal death, prenatal death, and infant death. The women with BMI above 40 had a 2-3 fold increase in the risk of these birth defects when compared to women with a BMI of 20.

According to the researchers there are several biological mechanisms that explain the link between the two conditions. They highlight the need for further studies in order to investigate the mechanism present.

Studies conducted earlier have linked obesity among moms-to-be with increased risk of preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, type 2 diabetes, gestational hypertension and congenital anomalies.

Research published earlier in the journal Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine found that obese mother are a third more likely to suffer birth defects such as spina bifida and heart defects.

The study suggests that women who plan to enter into pregnancy should take these factors into consideration to lower the risk of fetal deaths and other pregnancy related birth defects.

The study was documented in the journal JAMA.