[Pregnancy and labor in underweight pregnant patients]

The impact of underweight (Broca-index < 78%) on pregnancy, delivery and puerperium were studied in 104 matched pairs. Match criteria were: age, parity, and height. Underweighed pregnant women were significantly more likely to have an multitude of adverse outcomes, including hypotension (p = 0.0001), anemia (p = 0.02), premature labor (p = 0.0001), premature delivery (p = 0.009), small for gestational age (p = 0.02), hyperbilirubinemia (p = 0.02) and a higher rate of neonatal admission to the intensive care unit (p = 0.03). Underweighed women are at high risk for maternal and perinatal outcome.