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Spina bifida phenotypes in infants or fetuses of obese mothers
G M Shaw1, K Todoroff, R H Finnell
1March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation, California Birth Defects Monitoring Program, Emeryville, California 94608, USA.
Background:
A twofold or greater risk of neural tube defect (NTD)-affected pregnancy has been associated with prepregnant obesity, where obesity was defined as body mass index (BMI) of >29 kg/m(2). Risks have been more elevated for spina bifida than for anencephaly.
Methods:
We investigated whether finer phenotypic classifications of spina bifida, in combination with other factors, were associated with a BMI of >29 kg/m(2). Data were derived from a case-control study of fetuses and infants with NTDs among 1989-1991 California births. Interviews were conducted with mothers of 277 spina bifida cases and 517 nonmalformed controls.
Results:
Women with a BMI of >29 kg/m(2) compared with those 29 kg/m(2) compared with males whose mothers were
Conclusions:
The observed pathogenetic heterogeneity of prepregnant obesity and spina bifida risks suggests that there are likely to be several biologic mechanisms underlying the association.