The association between surgical site infections and gestational weight gain in obese women

To examine an association between gestational weight gain (GWG), defined by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) guidelines, and surgical site infections in obese women.

This was a retrospective study of all obese women with singleton pregnancies undergoing cesarean delivery at ≥ 23 weeks' gestation between January 2012 and June 2018. Women were categorized according to GWG: below, within, and above the IOM guidelines. Our primary outcome was a composite of surgical site infections. Coarsened Exact Matching with k-to-k solution was performed using predefined variables.

Of 2376 obese women, 429 (18.1%), 449 (18.9%), and 1498 (63.0%) had GWG below, within, and above the IOM guidelines, respectively. After matching, there was no difference in a rate of the primary outcome between women with GWG below the IOM guidelines and those with GWG within the IOM guidelines (6.7% [20/300] vs 4.3% [13/300]; P = .21). Similarly, there was no difference in the rate of the primary outcome between women with GWG above the IOM guidelines and those with GWG within the IOM guidelines (5.7% [24/421] vs 5.2% [22/421]; P = .76).

Among obese women, GWG was not associated with surgical site infections.