Obese pregnant women have more complicated births: research

More about why fat people should not have kids until they shed the pounds.

Women who were overweight or obese before they conceived were more likely to have a longer pregnancy, need to have labour induced artificially and to go on to require caesarean section births.

The research was conducted by a team at Liverpool University who examined the records of almost 30,000 women who gave birth over four years.

Three in ten obese women were overdue, defined as still pregnant ten days after their due date, compared with around two in ten of healthy weight women.
More than a third of obese women had their labour induced, compared with just over a quarter of normal weight women, the study published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology found.

In addition almost three in ten obese women had an induction of labour which later resulted in a caesarean delivery compared to less than two in ten normal weight women...

Other studies have found that maternal obesity is now one of the biggest risks in childbirth. In 2007 it was found that half of all women who died during pregnancy or soon after giving birth were overweight.

Maternity units have had to order special operating tables, wheelchairs and other equipment to deal with the increasing number of obese mothers and doors have had to be widened to accommodate them.

Management of obese prolonged pregnancies is often difficult as induction of labour is associated with a high risk of caesarean section and the possible complications that follow including infection, bleeding and clots.

Dr Sarah Arrowsmith, from the University of Liverpool’s Institute of Translational Medicine, and lead author on the paper said: “Maternal obesity has become one of the most commonly occurring risk factors in obstetric practice including greater risk of prolonged pregnancy.

Also more early nutritional child abuse.

So sad.