Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Pediatric Original Article
  • Published:

Maternal obesity: significance on the preterm neonate

International Journal of Obesity volume 39, pages 1433–1436 (2015)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background:

What is known of neonatal outcomes associated with maternal obesity is limited. The impact on the preterm neonate, delivery room (DR) course and need for neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) admission has not been well established.

Methods:

A review was done of our 17 county perinatal regions from the New York State Perinatal Data System database over the 3-year period of 1 January 2010–31 December 2012 for mother/baby dyad information for all live births 34–36 6/7 weeks’ gestation. The National Institutes of Health body mass index (BMI) classification was used for maternal BMI with the category definitions of underweight, normal, overweight, obese Level I, obese Level II, and obese Level III.

Results:

Information was obtained on 2155 women. In this group, 29% had obese BMIs. The incidence of pre-pregnancy diabetes mellitus (DM), DM during gestation and cesarean delivery (CD) in obese mothers was significantly different from normal weight mothers, P<0.001. More infants of Level III mothers required DR resuscitation when compared with infants of normal BMI mothers, 36 vs 16%, P <0.001. The need for assisted ventilation beyond 6 h of age and need for NICU admission was more likely in infants of Level III mothers, P<0.001. Women in all of the obese subgroups had preterm infants with increased birth weights (BWs) compared with preterm infants of normal weight mothers, P<0.001.

Discussion:

Late preterm infants born to obese mothers are more likely to be delivered by cesarean section and have larger BWs. We found that infants born to obese Level III mothers are much more likely to require assisted ventilation in the DR and NICU admission.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

Article 16 February 2023

Evdokia Dimitriadis, Daniel L. Rolnik, … Ellen Menkhorst

References

  1. Tsoi E, Shaikh H, Robinson S, Teoh TG . Obesity in pregnancy: a major healthcare issue. Postgrad Med J 2010; 86: 617–623.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Leddy MA, Power M, Schulkin J . The impact of obesity on maternal and fetal health. Rev Obstet Gynecol 2008; 1: 170–177.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Rooney B, Schauberger C . Excess pregnancy weight gain and long-term obesity: one decade later. Obstet Gynecol 2002; 100: 245–252.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Chen Z, Du J, Shao L, Zheng L, Wu M, Ai M et al. Prepregnancy body mass index, gestational weight gain, and pregnancy outcomes in China. Int J Gynecol Obstet 2010; 109: 41–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Lombardi DG, Barton JR, O'Brien JM, Istwan N, Sibai B . Does an obese pre pregnancy body mass index influence outcome in pregnancies complicated by mild gestational hypertension remote from term? Am J Obstet Gynecol 2005; 192: 1472–1474.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. De Paiva LV, Nomura RM, Dias MC, Zugaib M . Maternal obesity in high risk pregnancies and postpartum infectious complications. Rev Assoc Med Bras 2012; 58: 453–458.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Joy S, Istwan N, Rhea D, Desch C, Stanziano G . The impact of maternal obesity on the incidence of adverse pregnancy outcomes in high risk pregnancies. Am J Perinatol 2009; 26: 345–349.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Baeten J, Bukusi E, Lambe M . Pregnancy complications and outcomes among outcomes among overweight and obese nulliparous women. Am J Public Health 2001; 91: 436–440.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  9. Bhattacharya S, Campbell D, Liston W, Bhattacharya S . Effect of Body Mass Index on pregnancy outcomes in nulliparous women delivering singleton babies. BMC Public Health 2007; 7: 168.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  10. Kalk P, Guthmann F, Krause K, Relle K, Godes M, Gossing G et al. Impact of maternal Body Mass Index on neonatal outcome. Eur J Med Res 2009; 14: 216–222.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  11. Heude B, Thiebaugeorges O, Goua V, Forhan A, Kaminski M, Foliguet B et alThe EDEN Mother-Child Cohort Study Group. Pre-pregnancy body mass index and weight gain during pregnancy: relations with gestational diabetes and hypertension, and birth outcomes. Matern Child Heatlh J 2012; 16: 355–363.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Cnattingius S, Villamor E, Johansson S, Edstedt Bonamy A-K, Persson M, Wilstrom A-K et al. Maternal obesity and risk of preterm delivery. JAMA 2013; 309: 2362–2370.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Minsart A-F, Buekens P, De-Spiegelaere M, Englert Y . Neonatal outcomes in obese mothers: a population-based analysis. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 2013; 13: 36.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  14. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. ACOG Committee opinion no. 549: obesity in pregnancy. Obstet Gynecol 2013; 121: 213–217.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Helslehurst N, Ells L, Simpson H, Batterham A, Wilkinson J, Summerbell CD . Trends in maternal obesity incidence rates, demographic predictors, and health inequalities in 36,821 women over a 15- year period. BJOG 2007; 114: 187–194.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Clinical guidelines on the identification, evalutation, and treatment of overweight and obesity in adults. NIH Publication No. 98-4083. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health: Bethesda, MD, USA, 1998.

  17. Chu SY, Kim SY, Lau J, Schmid CH, Dietz PM, Callaghan WM et al. Maternal obesity and risk of stillbirth: a meta analysis. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2007; 197: 223–228.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Vinayagam D, Chandraharan E . The adverse impact of maternal obesity on intrapartum and perinatal outcomes. Obstet Gynecol 2012; 2012: 1–5.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Cnattinguis S, Bergstrom R, Lipworth L, Kramer M . Prepregnancy weight and the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes. N Engl J Med 1998; 338: 147–152.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Meehan S, Beck CR, Mair-Jenkins J, Leonardi-Bee J, Puleston R . Maternal obesity and infant mortality: a meta-analysis. Pediatrics 2014; 133: 869–871.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, Albany Medical Center, Albany, NY, USA

    R Khalak & J Cummings

  2. Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Albany Medical Center, Albany, NY, USA

    S Dexter

Authors
  1. R Khalak
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. J Cummings
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. S Dexter
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to R Khalak.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Khalak, R., Cummings, J. & Dexter, S. Maternal obesity: significance on the preterm neonate. Int J Obes 39, 1433–1436 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2015.107

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2015.107

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links