A new Study has revealed that obese pregnant women have increased risk of stillbirth.
The researchers suggested that the leading reasons for that higher risk appear to be high blood pressure and placental disorders.
Study author Lisa Bodnar, an associate professor in the department of epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, said “We’ve known for some time that obese women are more likely to have stillbirths, but this is one of the first and most comprehensive efforts to figure out why.”
The authors could only show an association between obesity and stillbirth; they couldn’t prove a cause-and-effect relationship.
Bodnar added that “Our hope is that this work can be used to better counsel women on the importance of a healthy pre-pregnancy weight, and monitor them for complications during pregnancy that may threaten the survival of their foetuses.
“This study also could be used to guide prevention efforts at a societal level, if we can reduce pre-pregnancy obesity by even a small amount, through environmental or policy changes, we could significantly reduce the burden of stillbirth.”
The study was released online, and is to be published in the October print issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
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