Weight Matters in Pregnancy: Part II

If my previous post on weight matters in pregnancy didn't convince you that starting your pregnancy obese can be bad for your baby, findings from a study published this week just might.

Researchers reviewed the birth outcomes of more than 4,000 women in eight states over a five-year period. They found that mothers who were obese (defined as a body mass index of 30 or greater) prior to pregnancy were significantly more likely to have infants with birth defects, including spina bifida, heart deformities, malformed rectums, hypospadias (abnormal opening of the urethra in males), short or missing limbs, hernias in the diaphragm, and abdominal wall defects. These researchers made sure that this was an obesity issue by not including infants whose birth defects had a known or suspected genetic cause and adjusting their calculations for women who took folic acid, which has been shown to reduce some birth defects.

I may sound like a broken record here, but the evidence continues to mount regarding the need to address overweight and obesity, especially among women of childbearing age. Additionally, given that: (1) Kentucky's rate of neural tube defects (such as spina bifida) is 1.5 times the national average; (2) birth defects are the leading cause of infant mortality in Kentucky; and (3) we already know that we're the fifth heaviest state in the nation, we've got some work to do if we want to meet our goals for improved birth outcomes in the Commonwealth.