Premature delivery, or preterm birth, is among the top causes of death among the world which are usually associated with cigarette smoking, alcohol use, infections, and health complications during pregnancy. However, a new study revealed that simply being overweight to obese may lead to premature delivery.
Sven Cnattingius, lead author of the study and a professor in reproductive epidemiology, Unit of Clinical Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, and his team successfully linked maternal obesity with premature delivery.
The research team gathered clinical data of 1,599,551 deliveries with records on the BMI of the patients during their early pregnancy between the years 1992 through 2010. The data came from the Swedish Medical Birth Register. Risks to preterm birth were categorized to the following: extremely, 22 to 27 weeks; very, 28 to 31 weeks; and moderately, 32to 36 weeks. According to CDC, preterm birth is anything below 37 weeks. Other factors that may affect the results such as age, parity, smoking, education, height, mother's country of birth, and year of delivery were taken into consideration.
On their initial analysis, the team found out that among 77,034 preterm births with mothers that were overweight to severe obese, four percent was extremely preterm, 8.95 percent was very preterm, and 87.59 percent was moderately preterm. This means that most of the cases occur within 32 to 36 weeks of pregnancy.
They then proceeded to looking at the BMI of the extremely preterm births where they found out that as the BMI increases, the risk increases as well. Corresponding rates are the following: BMO 25 to 30, 31.5 percent; BMI 30 to 35, 39.50 percent; BMI 35 to 40, 50.25 percent; and BMI over 40, 74.75 percent.
All these findings led to a general conclusion that overweight and obesity during pregnancy increases the risk to premature delivery of as early as 32 weeks.
This study was published on the June 12 issue of JAMA titled Maternal Obesity and Risk of Preterm Delivery.
According to the CDC, one out of nine births in the U.S is considered preterm where 35 percent of it results to infancy death. Those who managed to survive may face health problems in life such as breathing problems, cerebral palsy, vision problems, and hearing defects. It also causes emotional and financial trouble to the entire family.
