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. 2014 Nov;27(17):1771-5.
doi: 10.3109/14767058.2013.879705. Epub 2014 Feb 3.

Labor length among overweight and obese women undergoing induction of labor

Adi Hirshberg  1 , Lisa D Levine, Sindhu Srinivas
Affiliations

Labor length among overweight and obese women undergoing induction of labor

Adi Hirshberg et al. J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med. 2014 Nov.

Abstract

Objective: Maternal weight is thought to impact labor. With rising rates of obesity and inductions, we sought to evaluate labor times among induced women by body mass index (BMI) category.

Methods: Retrospective cohort study of term inductions from 2005 to 2010. BMI categories were: normal weight (NW), overweight (OW), and obese (Ob) (18.5-24.9, 25-29.9, ≥30 kg/m(2)). Kruskal-Wallis tests compared median latent labor (LL) length and active labor (AL) length. Chi-square determined associations. Multivariable logistic regression controlled for confounders. Analyses were stratified by parity.

Results: A total of 448 inductions were analyzed. For nulliparas, there was no difference in LL by BMI category (p = 0.22). However, OW nulliparas had a longer AL compared to NW and Ob nulliparas (3.2, 1.7, 2.0 h, p = 0.005). For multiparas, NW had the shortest LL (5.5 h, p = 0.025) with no difference in AL among BMI categories (p = 0.42). The overall cesarean rate was 23% with no difference by BMI category (p = 0.95). However, Ob women had a greater percentage of first stage cesareans (41%) and NW had a greater percentage of second stage cesareans (55%), p = 0.06.

Conclusion: The association between BMI and labor length among inductions differs by phase of labor and parity. BMI also influences the stage of labor in which a cesarean occurs.

Keywords: Body mass index; induction of labor; labor curves; labor length; obesity.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of interest: Poster (#295) entitled “Labor length and cesarean delivery rate among OW and Ob women undergoing induction” was presented at the 33rd Annual Meeting of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine in San Francisco, California on 14 February 2013. The authors report no other declarations of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart of included subjects.
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