[Prevalence of obesity in pregnant women of Canary Islands, Spain]

Abstract

Background and objective: Different epidemiological studies have shown that maternal excess of weight during pregnancy is associated with adverse outcomes of pregnancy, childbirth and morbidity of the neonate. Prevalence of obesity in a pregnant population of Canary Islands is reported here.

Subjects and methods: The group studied was an integrated cohort of all the pregnant women being followed-up at the Materno-Infant University Hospital of the Canarias [Hospital Universitario Materno-Infantil de Canarias; HUMIC] and who concluded their gestation during the year 2008 (n=6693). BMI was measured at the beginning of the pregnancy.

Results: 25.0% of the sample of pregnant women were overweight and 17.1% were obese, increasing both with age and not influenced with the educational level.

Conclusions: The prevalence of obesity and overweight among pregnant women from the Canary Islands is high. Among the values available from other European countries, only the UK reported values greater than our study sample.