Peripartum care of persons with obesity: a scoping review of recommendations and practical tools for implementation

Despite the growing prevalence of obesity among reproductive aged persons in the USA, evidence-based guidelines for peripartum care are lacking. The objective of this scoping review is to identify obesity-related recommendations for peripartum care, evaluate grades of evidence for each recommendation, and identify practical tools (eg, checklists, toolkits, care pathways and bundles) to support their implementation in clinical practice.

We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and ClinicalTrials.gov from inception to December 2020 for eligible studies addressing peripartum care in persons with obesity.

Inclusion criteria were published evidence-rated recommendations and practical tools for peripartum care of persons with obesity.

Pairs of independent reviewers extracted data (source, publication year, content and number of recommendations, level and grade of evidence, description of tool) and identified similarities and differences among the articles.

Of 18 315 screened articles, 18 were included including 7 articles with evidence-rated recommendations and 11 practical tools (3 checklists, 3 guidelines, 1 care bundle, 1 flowchart, 1 care pathway, 1 care map and 1 protocol). Thirteen of 39 evidence-rated recommendations were based on expert opinion. Recommendations related to surgical antibiotic prophylaxis and subcutaneous tissue closure at caesarean delivery received the highest grade of evidence. Some of the practical tools included a checklist from the USA regarding anticoagulation after caesarean delivery (evidence-supported recommendation), a bundle for surgical site infections after caesarean delivery in Australia (evidence did not support recommendation) and a checklist with content for several aspects of peripartum care from Canada (evidence supported seven of nine definitive recommendations).

The recommendations for peripartum care for persons with obesity are based on limited evidence and few practical tools for implementation exist. Future work should focus on developing practical tools based on high-quality studies.