Maternal morbid obesity and obstetric outcomes.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this retrospective cohort study was to review pregnancy outcomes in morbidly obese women who delivered a baby weighing 500 g or more in a large tertiary referral university hospital in Europe.


METHODS
Morbid obesity was defined as a BMI > or =40.0 kg/m2 (WHO). Only women whose BMI was calculated at their first antenatal visit were included. The obstetric out-comes were obtained from the hospital's computerised database.


RESULTS
The incidence of morbid obesity was 0.6% in 5,824 women. Morbidly obese women were older and were more likely to be multigravidas than women with a normal BMI. The pregnancy was complicated by hypertension in 35.8% and diabetes mellitus in 20.0% of women. Obstetric interventions were high, with an induction rate of 42.1% and a caesarean section rate of 45.3%.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings show that maternal morbid obesity is associated with an alarmingly high incidence of medical complications and an increased level of obstetric interventions. Consideration should be given to developing specialised antenatal services for morbidly obese women. The results also highlight the need to evaluate the effectiveness of prepregnancy interventions in morbidly obese women.
Farah
Nadine
N
UCD School of Medicine and Medical Science, Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland. nadine.farah@ucd.ie
Maher
Niamh
N
Barry
Sinead
S
Kennelly
Mairead
M
Stuart
Bernard
B
Turner
Michael J
MJ
D001724:Birth Weight; D002585:Cesarean Section / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D009767:Obesity, Morbid / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011295:Prenatal Care; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors