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. 2012 Sep;5(3):112-8.
doi: 10.1258/om.2012.110091. Epub 2012 Aug 28.

Association between World Health Organization categories of body mass index and relative risks for weight-related pregnancy outcomes: a retrospective cohort study

Katrina Zaballa  1 , Anthony Liu  1 , Michael John Peek  2 , Max Mongelli  2 , Ralph Nanan  1
Affiliations

Association between World Health Organization categories of body mass index and relative risks for weight-related pregnancy outcomes: a retrospective cohort study

Katrina Zaballa et al. Obstet Med. 2012 Sep.

Abstract

Objective: To analyse the dose-dependent effect of body mass index (BMI) categories for common pregnancy outcomes.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study of all deliveries that occurred between 1 January 2005 and 31 December 2009 in a tertiary maternity centre, in Sydney Australia. Common pregnancy outcomes were analysed against World Health Organization (WHO) BMI categories using multiple logistic regression analysis.

Results: From a total of 18,304 pregnancies, 9087 singleton pregnancies with complete data-sets were identified. Of these pregnancies, 4000 (44%) had a normal BMI, 470 (5.2%) were underweight, 2293 (25.2%) were overweight, 1316 (14.5%) were obese class I, 630 (6.9%) were obese class II and 378 (4.2%) were obese class III. Using the normal BMI category as the reference, there was a clear dose effect of BMI categories for hypertension (P < 0.001), pre-eclampsia (P < 0.001), caesarean section (P < 0.001), macrosomia (P < 0.001), large for gestational age (P < 0.001), small for gestational age (P < 0.001) and neonatal respiratory distress (P = 0.039). In contrast, despite a significant association with BMI (P < 0.001), a dose-dependent effect was not found for gestational diabetes.

Conclusion: The results of our study have important clinical significance as the data, using WHO BMI categories, more accurately help stratify risk assessment in a clinically relevant dose-dependent relationship.

Keywords: World Health Organization; body mass index; pregnancy outcome.

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Figures

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Figure 1
Study cohort
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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