(Press-News.org) Overweight and obese women are more likely to require specialist medical care during their pregnancy due to the increased risk of adverse neonatal and maternal outcomes, finds a new study published today (27 March) in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
The study, carried out by a team from Queen's University Belfast and Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, found that maternal obesity has significant health implications contributing to increased morbidity and mortality for both mother and baby. With worldwide obesity rates having doubled over the past 30 years, the rate of obese pregnant women is also increasing.
This study categorised women according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) body mass index (BMI) classifications. The categories included women who were underweight (BMI 40).
It looked at the impact of BMI on maternal and neonatal outcomes in 30,298 singleton pregnancies, from a referral unit in Northern Ireland, in the UK over an 8 year period (2004-2011). Within this cohort, 2.8% of women were categorised as underweight, 52.5% normal weight, 27.8% overweight, 11% obese class I, 3.9% obese class II and 1.9% obese class III.
Results showed that, when compared to normal weight women, women in the overweight and obese class I category had an increased risk of hypertensive disorders, gestational diabetes, induction of labour, caesarean section, post-partum haemorrhage and macrosomia (large birthweight baby), with all risks significantly increasing for obese class II and III women. For example, women in obese class III were four times more likely to develop gestational diabetes compared to normal weight women.
Furthermore, women in obese class III were identified to be at the most risk of additional adverse outcomes including having a preterm delivery, a newborn requiring neonatal admission, and stillbirth, which was three times more likely among these women.
In overweight and obese women there was also an increased likelihood of postnatal problems, such as unsuccessful breastfeeding, which has also shown to increase the risk for long-term health implications for both mother and baby in relation to obesity.
Conversely, underweight women were at an increased risk of anaemia and were more likely to have a low birthweight baby, when compared to normal weight women.
Dr Valerie Holmes, Centre for Public Health, Queen's University Belfast and co-author of the study, said:
"This large-scale study clearly demonstrates that being overweight or obese during pregnancy increases the risk of adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes.
"By having obesity in sub-classifications, we were able to highlight the relationship between increasing BMI and the increasing risk of adverse outcomes, with women most at risk in obese class III requiring specialist medical care during pregnancy."
Dale Spence, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Queen's University Belfast and co-author of the study, added:
"We found that the majority of overweight women fall into the overweight or obese class I categories and while they are still at an increased risk of gestational diabetes and hypertensive disorders in pregnancy, they may not be offered the same level of specialist care under current guidelines."
Mike March, BJOG Deputy-Editor-in-Chief, said:
"We know that maternal obesity has significant health implications including an increased risk of developing pregnancy-related disorders, poorer labour outcomes and adverse neonatal health.
"This study further shows the relationship between obesity and these adverse outcomes by linking rising BMI with the likelihood of adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes associated with pregnancy.
"Further research is needed to optimise management for overweight and obese women during pregnancy."
###
Overweight and obese women at higher risk of adverse neonatal and maternal outcomes
2013-03-27
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Many cancer institution websites lack nutritional guidance, others give mixed messages
2013-03-27
PHILADELPHIA—Radiation oncologists at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital are stressing the need for evidence-based, standardized guidelines on dietary recommendations for cancer patients—and with good reason. A new analysis revealed that online dietary recommendations for cancer patients, if even present on an institution's website, appear to be consistently inconsistent.
A review of all 21 of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) member institutions found that only four provided nutritional guidelines, with seven linking to external sites. What's more, ...
Paranoia persists in mugging victims for months after attack, study finds
2013-03-27
Being mugged or randomly attacked in the street often leaves people paranoid and distrustful of others long after the attack, according to a study published today. The research highlights a previously under-recognised consequence of physical assault which will help to inform therapy for those seeking help.
In the study, four out of five victims reported that since the assault they were more fearful of other people than they wanted to be. Importantly the study identified what led to excessive mistrust lasting over the next six months. Being attacked close to home, feeling ...
Hospital remains most common place of death for cancer patients in England
2013-03-27
In England, hospital is still the most common place for patients with cancer to die but an increase in home and hospice deaths since 2005 suggests that the National End of Life Care Programme (a Programme to promote the rollout of national end-of-life care initiatives) has helped more people to die at their preferred place of death, according to a UK study funded by the National Institute for Health Research Health Services and Delivery Research (NIHR HS&DR) Programme, published in this week's PLOS Medicine.
In a large analysis led by Dr Wei Gao and Professor Irene Higginson ...
Potential Chagas vaccine candidate shows unprecedented efficacy
2013-03-27
Scientists are getting closer to a Chagas disease vaccine, something many believed impossible only 10 years ago. Research from the Sealy Center for Vaccine Development at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston has resulted in a safe vaccine candidate that is simple to produce and shows a greater than 90 percent protection rate against chronic infection in mice.
In a paper published online in PLOS ONE, the researchers describe how they identified and tested potential Trypanosoma cruzi (also known as T. cruzi or Chagas disease) antigen candidates and delivery ...
Experts find link between low doses of vitamin D and adverse pregnancy outcomes
2013-03-27
Research: Association between maternal serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D level and pregnancy and neonatal outcomes: systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies
Editorial: Vitamin D sufficiency in pregnancy
There is a link between vitamin D insufficiency and adverse health outcomes such as gestational diabetes and preeclampsia in mothers-to-be and low birth weight in newborns, suggests a paper published on bmj.com today.
Vitamin D insufficiency has been associated with a number of adverse health outcomes and has been recognised as a public health concern. Plus, ...
Death in young children linked to their mother's poor health
2013-03-27
In poorer countries, young children are more likely to die in the months before their mother's death, when she is seriously ill, and also in the period after her death, according to a study by international researchers published in this week's PLOS Medicine.
These findings are important as they highlight the urgent need for proactive and coordinated community-based interventions to support families, especially vulnerable children, when a mother becomes seriously ill, not just in the period following her death.
Research was carried out in a large socio-economically ...
Mice show innate ability to vocalize
2013-03-27
VANCOUVER, Wash.—Scientists have long thought that mice might serve as a model for how humans learn to vocalize. But new research led by scientists at Washington State University-Vancouver has found that, unlike humans and songbirds, mice do not learn how to vocalize.
But the results, published in the current Journal of Neuroscience, point the way to a more finely focused, genetic tool for teasing out the mysteries of speech and its disorders.
To see if mice learn to vocalize, WSU neurophysiologist Christine Portfors took more than a dozen male mice and destroyed their ...
Rural cancer care may be closer than you think
2013-03-27
Research from the University of Iowa suggests that cancer care is more accessible in rural areas than thought, and this increased accessibility should be considered as changes are made in the health care system under the Affordable Care Act.
Thomas Gruca, professor of marketing in the Tippie College of Business and study co-author, found that significant portions of Iowa's population are, indeed, an excessive distance from full-service cancer care centers located in larger cities like Des Moines, Omaha/Council Bluffs, or Davenport. But his study finds that number drops ...
Youth with type 1 diabetes may suffer health risks when transitioning from pediatric to adult care
2013-03-27
AURORA, Colo. (March 26, 2013) Adolescent type 1 diabetes patients face greater risk for heart attacks, strokes, blindness and kidney failure later in life if their transition from pediatric to adult care is not carefully managed, two CU researchers have found. The estimated median age at transition to adult care was 20.1 years and 77 percent of individuals with type 1 diabetes had left pediatric care by age 21. The study suggests that without support, they were 2.5 times more likely to have high blood glucose levels when transitioning from pediatric to adult care
The ...
Wastewater injection spurred biggest earthquake yet, says study
2013-03-27
A new study in the journal Geology is the latest to tie a string of unusual earthquakes, in this case, in central Oklahoma, to the injection of wastewater deep underground. Researchers now say that the magnitude 5.7 earthquake near Prague, Okla., on Nov. 6, 2011, may also be the largest ever linked to wastewater injection. Felt as far off as Milwaukee, more than 800 miles away, the quake—the biggest ever recorded in Oklahoma--destroyed 14 homes, buckled a federal highway and left two people injured. Small earthquakes continue to be recorded in the area. The study appeared ...