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Obesity in pregnancy: infant health service utilisation and costs on the NHS

Kelly L Morgan1, Muhammad A Rahman2, Rebecca A Hill2

  • 1Centre for the Development and Evaluation of Complex Interventions for Public Health Improvement (DECIPHer), School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK.

BMJ Open
|November 28, 2015
PubMed

Insights

Infants born to obese mothers incur 72% higher healthcare costs in their first year. Early pregnancy interventions to reduce maternal obesity could be cost-effective for the National Health Service.

Area of Science:

  • Public Health
  • Healthcare Economics
  • Maternal and Child Health

Background:

  • Maternal overweight and obesity are significant public health concerns.
  • The economic impact of maternal obesity on healthcare systems requires thorough investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To estimate the direct healthcare costs associated with infants born to overweight or obese mothers in the UK's National Health Service (NHS).

Main Methods:

  • A retrospective, prevalence-based study utilizing linked anonymised electronic health data from the Growing Up in Wales: Environments for Healthy Living (EHL) study.
  • Infants were categorized based on maternal pre-pregnancy Body Mass Index (BMI): healthy weight (18.5–24.9 kg/m²), overweight (25–29.9 kg/m²), and obese (≥30 kg/m²).
  • Direct healthcare costs for infants from birth to one year were calculated based on health service utilization in 2012-2013.

Main Results:

  • A significant association was found between maternal BMI and infant healthcare costs (p<0.001).
  • Infants born to obese mothers incurred 72% higher mean total costs compared to those born to healthy weight mothers.
  • Additional costs were driven by increased inpatient visits (number and duration) and higher general practitioner visit frequency, with estimated additional costs of £65.13 for overweight and £1138.11 for obese mothers.

Conclusions:

  • Infants born to mothers with higher BMIs consume significantly more health service resources during their first year of life.
  • These increased costs are evident across inpatient and general practitioner services.
  • Interventions to reduce maternal obesity in early pregnancy, costing less than £2310 per person, may be cost-effective for the NHS.
Abstract

Keywords:
HEALTH ECONOMICSPAEDIATRICSPUBLIC HEALTH

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