Obstetric challenges of massive obesity complicating pregnancy

Abstract

This study examined the effects of massive maternal obesity on medical complications, mode of delivery, postpartum complications, and hospital confinement. In this retrospective case control study, women weighing > 300 pounds delivering from January 1, 1986, to November 1, 1991, were matched for age, race, parity, and height with lean parturient women (mean weight 160 +/- 21 pounds). Among massively obese women there was a greater incidence of chronic hypertension (p < 0.05) and diabetes (p < 0.05) than in the control group. Primary cesarean section was more frequent (p < 0.05), as was the postoperative complication of endometritis when obese patients were compared with lean women (p < 0.05). Cephalopelvic disproportion was the only indication for primary cesarean section, which occurred with greater frequency in the obese group. The postpartum hospital confinement was also significantly longer in the obese study group (p < 0.05). The gestation of a massively obese parturient woman is more frequently complicated by chronic hypertension and diabetes. Abdominal delivery for cephalopelvic disproportion is more likely, and this mode of birth is more often followed by endometritis, which results in longer hospital stays.