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.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Obesity

Maternal obesity and congenital anomalies — risk and diagnosis

A new population-based observational cohort study involving more than 1.2 million live births highlights the increased risk of congenital anomalies with increasing degrees of maternal overweight and obesity. However, by only considering data on live-born infants, the full impact of maternal overweight and obesity on this aspect of reproductive and child health is underestimated.

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

Access options

Buy this article

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

References

  1. Ng, M. et al. Global, regional, and national prevalence of overweight and obesity in children and adults during 1980–2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013. Lancet 384, 766–781 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Scheil, W. et al. Pregnancy outcome in South Australia 2014. sa.gov.au http://www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/d8b1db004f29bbbda841ee9ea2e2f365/16148.1+Pregnancy+Outcomes+Report+A4_final.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=d8b1db004f29bbbda841ee9ea2e2f365 (2016).

  3. Dodd, J. M., Grivell, R. M., Nguyen, A.-M., Chan, A. & Robinson, J. S. Maternal and perinatal health outcomes by body mass index category. ANZJOG 51, 136–140 (2011).

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Persson, M. et al. Risk of major congenital malformations in relation to maternal overweight and obesity severity: cohort study of 1.2 million singletons. BMJ 357, j2563 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. De-Regil, L. M., Peña-Rosas, J. P., Fernández-Gaxiola, A. C. & Rayco-Solon, P. Effects and safety of periconceptional oral folate supplementation for preventing birth defects. Cochrane Database Syst. Rev. 12, CD007950 (2015).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Stern, S. J., Matok, I., Kapur, B. & Koren, G. Dosage requirements for periconceptional folic acid supplementation: accounting for BMI and lean body weight. J. Obstet. Gynaecol. Can. 34, 374–378 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Catalano, P. M. & Hauguel-De Mouzon, S. Is it time to revisit the Pedersen hypothesis in the face of the obesity epidemic? Am. J. Obstet. Gynecol. 204, 479–487 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Aagaard-Tillery, K. M. et al. Influence of maternal BMI on genetic sonography in the FaSTER trial. Prenat. Diag. 30, 14–22 (2010).

    Google Scholar 

  9. Platt, L. D. Should the first trimester ultrasound include anatomy survey? Semin. Perinatol. 37, 310–322 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Hunsley, C. & Farrell, T. The influence of maternal body mass index on fetal anomaly screening. Eur. J. Obstet. Gynecol. Reprod. Biol. 182, 181–184 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

J.M.D. is funded by an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council Practitioner Fellowship (ID 1078980).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jodie M. Dodd.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Dodd, J., Whitehead, C. Maternal obesity and congenital anomalies — risk and diagnosis. Nat Rev Endocrinol 13, 504–506 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2017.100

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2017.100

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing