Maternal obesity: an analysis of the risk factors for CNS malformations: a study of 64 cases at King Fahd hospital of the university AL-Khabar

ABSTRACT

Our purpose was to determine whether obese women have an increased risk of central nervous system birth defects in their offspring. Among 33,266 babies delivered at the King Fahd Hospital of the University, Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia between January 1983 and December 1994, there were 64 babies with central nervous system anomalies and a control group of 128 women with normal babies. The incidence of those anomalies was 1.9 1,000 births. Of these 64 babies, 48 were born to mothers of normal weight [body mass index <29 kg/M[2]]. The difference was very highly significant P=0.001. These results suggest that maternal obesity does not have a risk factor for central nervous system anomalies. The most common anomalies were those of hydrocephalus, followed by anencephaly, encephalocele, and then meningomyelocele with and without association with hydrocephalus. Twelve babies were stillbirths, and the remaining 52 were born alive. In conclusion, this study has analyzed the relationship between maternal weight and the risk of central nervous system birth defects in the offspring. Since underweight women have lower calorie intake, and obese women have been shown to have a poor choice of foods, we do not believe that obesity per se is associated with increased risk of producing malformed offspring, but both women who are underweight and women who are obese may have an increased risk of birth defects in their offspring