Published 15 December 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a2450
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a2450

Practice

Pregnancy Plus

Obesity and pregnancy

Naomi E Stotland, assistant professor

1 Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences, University of California San Francisco, 1001 Potrero Avenue 6D-1, San Francisco CA 94110, USA

Correspondence to: N E Stotland stotlandn@obgyn.ucsf.edu

This article explores the increased risks of obesity in pregnancy and suggests strategies to minimise them

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Over one billion adults worldwide are estimated to be overweight, with 400 million of these classed as obese.1 About half of women of reproductive age in the United States are either overweight or obese.2

Obesity affects reproduction in women in many ways (see scenario box for an example). Table 1Go lists the complications associated with obesity in pregnancy. Although most obese women will have a good overall obstetric outcome, obesity was a major predictor of maternal mortality and major complications in a recent study.3


A 25 year old woman, in her second pregnancy, presents for prenatal care in the first trimester of pregnancy. She is 1.57 m (5 ft 2 in) and weighs 82 kg (12 stone 13 lb) at nine weeks’ gestation. She is unsure of her preconception weight. Her obstetric history is notable for an urgent caesarean delivery of a 4200 g infant after labour was induced for . . . [Full text of this article]


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