Perinatal Outcome in Overweight Women: An Audit

Obesity in pregnancy is associated with a myriad of well-documented complications. However, the outcomes of pregnancy in overweight females, who are not classified as obese, have not been studied. The aim of the study was to assess foeto-maternal outcomes in primigravida who are overweight and compare them to normal-weight patients.

This was a prospective observational cohort study and included primigravida with full-term gestation (between 38 and 42 weeks), with a single live foetus in vertex presentation, who were admitted for labour induction. Based on pre-pregnancy weight, patients were divided into normal weight (body mass index, BMI<23kg/m²) and overweight (BMI≥23kg/m² and<25kg/m²) categories labelled as groups A and B, respectively. Data was collected for gestational age, demographics (age, education, occupation), and obstetric and labour-related parameters per pre-designed proforma. Parameters included were the reason for induction, number of doses of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) gel used, duration of labour, induction to delivery interval, and mode of birth- operative/ non-operative. Data was also collected for peri-partum maternal complications, neonatal Apgar score, and need for Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) admissions.

One hundred and fifty patients were recruited in the study and divided based on weight into two groups- 115 in Group A (normal weight) and 35 in Group B (overweight). Compared to Group A, a higher proportion of patients in Group B needed a third dose of PGE2 gel (n=24, 20.8% vs n=18, 51.4%). Also, more patients in Group B had an induction to delivery time of longer than 30 hours (n=7, 20% vs n=5, 4.3%) and had a higher incidence of failed induction needing caesarean section (n=9, 25.7% vs n=13, 11.3%). Neonates born to overweight mothers had a poor Apgar score at 1 min. However, on reassessment, Apgar improved at 5 minutes, and no statistically significant difference was seen for admission to NICU- 5.7% (n=2) in Group B vs 1.7% (n=2) in Group A Conclusion: Pregnancy in overweight females is associated with prolonged labour, higher instances of failed induction, and poor neonatal outcomes at initial assessment. Thus, perinatal counselling and management should focus on weight control while also planning appropriate strategies for monitoring and treating pregnancy-related complications if weight control measures fail. Although obesity is the main focus of research, we suggest including overweight but non-obese females in such studies as they have similar adverse outcomes and complications.