Weight gain is a fact of life for pregnant women. It's important to make sure your baby gets all the nutrients it needs to grow. But too much weight can be dangerous for both mom and baby. A new study in the Journal of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine says that women who are overweight or obese before they get pregnant run a higher risk of having babies with birth defects. Dr. Marla Shapiro provides more details.
- A new study in the August issue of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine has found that babies with certain birth defects are more likely to be born to women who are obese
- This is the first study of this scale to look at pre-pregancy obesity and structural birth defects
- Overweight and obese women are at a higher risk for infertility, irregular menstruation and complications during pregnancy, and adverse pregnancy outcomes
- U.S. figures say 51 per cent of women 20-39 years old are classified as overweight or obese
- The study's authors reviewed more than 10,000 women in 8 states who's babies were born with birth defects - and compared the data to more than 4,000 women who had babies with no birth defect
- They identified 16 birth defects that showed up more often in babies with obese mothers - including spina bifida, missing toes and fingers, and heart defects.
- Obese mothers have an approximately 2-fold increase in the risk of offspring affected by spina bifida compared with nonobese mothers
- The study authors say they don't know exactly why women who are obese before getting pregnant are more likely to have babies with these birth defects.
- But changes in sugar levels in the blood are responsible for a range of structural birth defects in the babies of women with diabetes - so it might be a similar reason. Or some of the women may have had undiagnosed diabetes
- They looked specifically at Body Mass Index - height and weight prior to pregnancy
CANADIAN DATA
- The Society of Obstericians and Gynocologists of Canada discussed this subject at their annual meeting last year in Vancouver
- According to Stats Can - 23 per cent of women over the age of 18 are obese
- The age group of 25-34 has the fastest growing obesity rate among adults - having doubled in the past 25 years.
- The number of obese children has tripled in the past 25 years.
- Obese women face additional dangers in pregnancy - hypertension, gestational diabetes
- Their babies face a higher risk of heart and neural tube defects
- Obese women have a higher likelihood of needing a caesarean section delivery, which are riskier.
- Overweight women are recommended to gain less weight in pregnancy than underweight or normal weight women.
- Dieting during pregnancy is never recommended, as it can limit the nutrition available to the baby.
