Maternal Obesity - Implications for Pregnancy and Birth Outcomes

Event held on the 15th of May 2008

Summary

Approximately 35% of Australian women aged 25-35 years are over-weight or obese. The prevalence of obesity in 2003 according to the Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle study, was 2.5 times higher than in 1980. With clinical obesity now occurring at younger ages, and with weight gain continuing over time, it stands to reason that unless something is done more women will become pregnant when they are already overweight or obese.

Over 250,000 women give birth in Australian hospitals per annum. A recent study conducted by Callaway et al showed that in a sample of 14,230 women booked for antenatal care, 34% were overweight, obese, or morbidly obese. While pregnancy and childbirth should be happy and 'natural' events, women who are overweight or obese face an array of risks, both for themselves and their unborn / newborn baby.

Professor Ellwood, President of Women's Hospitals Australasia warned that "obesity has both an adverse effect on fertility in women as well as complicating the course of pregnancy. Obesity may increase the incidence of birth defects, perinatal deaths, gestational diabetes, hypertension, pre-eclampsia, urinary tract infections, birth trauma, and post-partum haemorrhage".

There may also be an increased need for interventions such as electronic fetal monitoring, induction of labour, caesarean section, prolonged maternal hospital admission, and admission of the newborn to a NICU. Further, there is evidence from epidemiological studies that overweight and obese women are likely to stay longer in hospital, have more investigations and are less likely to breastfeed than women of normal weight.

In an effort to help hospitals tackle this issue, Women's Hospitals Australasia held a one day Scientific Meeting, chaired by Professor David Ellwood of the Canberra Hospital and the ANU Medical School, to bring together clinical and public health experts to present the latest information on different aspects of this topic.

It is our pleasure to release the slide presentations from the scientific meeting held on the 15th of May 2008

Presentations

Other Upcoming Events

Don't forget to mark in your diaries the coming WHA Conference to be held at the Manly Pacific in Sydney from 19-21 November 2008. The call for abstracts is still open - see our website!