Publication:

Effect of maternal body mass index on pregnancy outcomes

Background BMI is widely accepted as a better measure of underweight or overweight than weight alone. The developing countries including India are facing a dual burden of undernutrition and obesity. Extremes of BMI in pregnancy have been associated with multiple complications affecting maternal and perinatal outcome. The objectives of the present study was to observe distribution of antenatal patients in underweight, normal, overweight and obese categories according to booking BMI and to examine the association of BMI with obstetric and perinatal outcomes in singleton pregnancies.

Methods This was an observational prospective study with a sample size of 610 patients carried out during the period Dec 2016 to Nov 2017 in Dr PDMMC, Amravati. The antenatal patients were categorized into four categories of BMI according to WHO classification and pregnancy outcomes were compared.

Results Depending on booking BMI, 73.8% patients enrolled in the study had normal booking BMI and 16.7%, 8.5% and 1% were underweight, overweight and obese respectively. Postdatism, preterm births, induction of labour, LSCS and prolonged hospital stay were commoner in overweight patients while IUGR, oligohydramnios and BOH were seen more in underweight group. Neonatal resuscitation and neonatal complications were common in both underweight and overweight patients as compared to normal BMI patients.

Conclusions Based on this study, we conclude that majority of antenatal patients being catered in our hospital have normal BMI. Adverse maternal and perinatal outcomes are seen more commonly with the extremes of BMI.