Stillbirth Risk Higher For Obese Mothers

A new study has associated maternal obesity to a nearly twofold risk of still birth.

According to researchers from the University of Pittsburg, the higher the body mass index (BMI) of the mother, the higher the risk of a stillbirth. Associate Professor of Epidemiology Lisa Bodnar examination of seven years of recorded stillbirths (totalling more than 650) at the Magee-Women's Hospital of UPMC.

"Many women who have hypertension also have problems with their placenta and what we found is that even if you remove the women who had hypertension there was still this independent relationship between obesity and placental diseases," quoted the publication WESA.fm online of the professor.

The study defined stillbirth as cases that reached at least a minimum of 16 weeks gestation wherein there was no evidence of life for the child following delivery, reported WebMD. When it came to lean women, the study recorded a stillbirth rate of just under eight for ever 1,000 births but for severely obese women, the rate jumped to 17 per 1,000 births.

Because of the weight of the pregnant women, there are some specific complications that are more likely to occur in women classified as obese. Some of the complications include high blood pressure, gestational diabetes, fetal abnormalities, placental diseases in addition to abnormalities which have to do with the umbilical cord.

It was also revealed that two of the most common causes of stillbirth were related to obesity because of the lack of adequate blood flow to the fetus, making obesity the single most important risk factor for stillbirth.

It is the hope of Bodnar and her team that the data derived from the study will be used to provide better medical counsel regarding the importance of pre-pregnancy weight as well as doctor's medical attention to those who fall in the obese category.

"This study also could be used to guide prevention efforts at a societal level," Bodnar contended, via WebMD. "If we can reduce pre-pregnancy obesity by even a small amount, through environmental or policy changes, we could significantly reduce the burden of stillbirth."

While it has been widely reported that obese women are more likely to experience stillbirths, the study is the first and most comprehensive review to look at the reason why. Due to the design of the study, the experts were able to associate obesity to stillbirths but couldn't conclusively prove a cause-and-effect relationship.

The study was released online and will also be included in the October issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.