Obesity linked to birth defects

Overweight and obese women have been found to have a higher risk of having a child born with congenital abnormalities

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The risk of babies being born with congenital abnormalities is higher for overweight and obese women, new research has found. Dr Nicola Heslehurst of the University of Teeside's Centre for Food, Physical Activity and Obesity told delegates at the European Congress on Obesity that a review of 49 studies found there was a significant relationship between weight and a range of risks including caesarean and instrumental deliveries, longer length of hospital stay and neonatal trauma, Pulse Today reports. She said obese women were at double risk of a caesarean delivery, 2.7 times the risk of a longer hospital stay and had three times the risk of infection.

A second study of 42,000 pregnant women classed as either overweight or obese at five maternity units in the north of England, who gave birth to babies between January 2003 and December 2005 found that 1,098 babies were born with congenital anomalies, with cardiovascular anomalies and neural tube defects being among the most common at 456 and 55 births respectively.

The findings are the latest to highlight the risk of obesity to the unborn child.In 2004 researchers from Barcelona's Hospital de Sant Pau found it was one of the most decisive factors in the development of heart, kidney and urinary tract defects.

Dr Rosa Corcoy looked at the relationship between the mother's blood sugar levels and weight and birth defects in more than 2,000 children born to women with gestational diabetes and found the degree of obesity, measured by body mass index, appeared to be the main predicting factor for heart defects in the unborn child.