Overweight and underweight women tend to have a range of pregnancy-related risks, researchers warn today.
Dr Fiona Denison of Queens’s Medical Research Institute Edinburgh, UK, and her team used routinely collected obstetric details on 109,592 pregnant women in Scotland between 2003 and 2010.
Analysis showed that the risk of maternal complications increased as body mass index increased, and severely obese women (a BMI of more than 35) had three times the risks of high blood pressure and gestational diabetes then normal weight women.
Women in all the overweight categories had higher rates of hospital admissions after the birth compared with normal weight women. For overweight women it was 16% higher, 45% for obese women, and 88% for severely obese women. The risk also rose for underweight women, who had an 8% increased risk of admission.
Maternity costs also worked out up to 350 UK pounds higher for women not of normal weight. The study is published today (18 September) in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
"Our data demonstrates that both high and low maternal BMI are associated with increased risk of complications during pregnancy, increased numbers and duration of maternal admissions and higher health service costs," said Dr Denison.
"Longer term benefits of reducing maternal obesity will show improvements, not only in the health outcomes of mothers and their babies, but the workload and cost to current maternity services."
Journal editor Mike Marsh commented: "It is vital that women understand the importance of maintaining a healthy weight prior to conception to reduce the risk of future pregnancy complications, the need for specialist care and the resulting cost to the NHS."
Denison, F. C. et al. Association between maternal body mass index during pregnancy, short-term morbidity and increased health service costs: a population based study. BJOG 18 September 2013; doi: 10.1111/1471-0528.12442.
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