The Superobese Mother and Ethnic Disparities in Preterm Birth

Ethnic disparity in spontaneous preterm birth and maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index

“…Nevertheless, after logistic regression adjusting for several confounders, these authors also concluded that obesity may have different effects on susceptibility to PTB according to ethnicity and that excess weight may be protective in AA but not in C women. On the other hand, Salihu et al [30] reported opposite findings in their retrospective cohort involving 540,021 American women. According to these investigators, obese (BMI C30) and super obese (BMI C50) AA women have a significantly higher risk for PTB\37 weeks than C or Hispanic women of similar anthropometry [30].…”

“…On the other hand, Salihu et al [30] reported opposite findings in their retrospective cohort involving 540,021 American women. According to these investigators, obese (BMI C30) and super obese (BMI C50) AA women have a significantly higher risk for PTB\37 weeks than C or Hispanic women of similar anthropometry [30]. These apparently contradictory findings may be in part due to the fact that Salihu et al elected normal weight (BMI 18.5-24.9) C mothers as their reference category for all ethnic groups and did not exclude medically indicated PTB from their cohort.…”

597: Maternal super-obesity and perinatal outcomes

“…Our results support a dose-response relationship between worsening obesity and cesarean delivery, macrosomia, neonatal hypoglycemia, and preeclampsia. This study provides information regarding the increased risk of perinatal complications with increasing BMI within obesity classes that include superobese women and builds on the few published studies on superobesity in pregnancy that primarily examined single outcomes and limited comparisons to normal weight women 5,6 or combined obesity classes. 7 Superobese women are at significantly increased risk of delivery by cesarean delivery, compared with morbidly obese and obese women.…”

“…4 Although several studies compare obese women to normal-weight women, to date there have been limited studies on superobesity in pregnancy. [5][6][7] As the number of superobese pregnant women continues to rise, it is important to determine whether there is a "dose-response" relationship between the severity of maternal obesity and perinatal complications.The objective of this study was to determine the effect of maternal superobesity on perinatal outcomes compared with maternal obesity (BMI, 30-39.9 kg/m 2 ) and morbid obesity (BMI,(40)(41)(42)(43)(44)(45)(46)(47)(48)(49).9 kg/m 2 ). We hypothesized that pregnancy in super-obese women, compared with obese and morbidly obese women, is associated with (1) increased risk of maternal complications of pregnancy, (2) greater risk of fetal growth abnormalities, and (3) greater risk of infant complications.…”

“…4 Although several studies compare obese women to normal-weight women, to date there have been limited studies on superobesity in pregnancy. [5][6][7] As the number of superobese pregnant women continues to rise, it is important to determine whether there is a "dose-response" relationship between the severity of maternal obesity and perinatal complications.…”