Obesity Is A Risk Factor For Stillbirth In Pregnancy, Study Finds

Obesity refers to abnormal or excessive fat accumulation in the body that makes one overweight and presents a risk to health.

One has to be extremely cautious during pregnancy and tweak their lifestyle -- including diet -- so as to have a healthy gestation period. There are many health issues that can bother a pregnant woman and affect the health of her unborn child. Among them is obesity. According to a large study conducted in Canada recently, obesity is a risk factor for stillbirth, especially as the pregnancy advances. Obesity refers to abnormal or excessive fat accumulation in the body that makes one overweight and presents a risk to health. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a body mass index (BMI) over 25 is considered 'overweight', and over 30 is 'obese'.

The findings of the study were published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ). According to it, having an earlier delivery date may reduce the risk of stillbirth for pregnant women who have obesity, as opposed to late-term pregnancies.

According to reports, researchers analysed data from the Better Outcomes Registry and Network on as many as 6,81,178 'singleton' births, 1,956 of which were stillbirths in Ontario between 2012 and 2018. They adjusted for other risk factors that lead to stillbirth -- like diabetes and high blood pressure -- and found people with class-I obesity (BMI 30 34.9 kilograms per square metre) had double the risk of stillbirth at 39 weeks of gestation, as compared to those with normal BMI (18.5 24.9 kg/m2).

Researchers said that for pregnant women in obesity classes II and III (with BMI of 35 39.9 kg/m2 and BMI of 40 kg/m2 and higher, respectively), stillbirth risk at 36 weeks was 2 to 2.5 times as compared to people with normal BMI. In fact, the risk associated with increased BMI further increased with 'gestational age', with a 'more than fourfold risk at 40 weeks'.

Assistant professor at Dalhousie University, Canada Naila Ramji, who was the study's lead author, was quoted as saying: "For other medical conditions that increase the risk of stillbirth, there are guidelines that recommend delivery at 38 or 39 weeks. Interestingly, the risk thresholds for those conditions are lower than the risks we found associated with obesity."

"We worry that implicit biases against people with obesity may be causing the medical community to take the risks they face less seriously," Ramji added.

According to reports, the researchers also assessed whether these stillbirths occurred before or during the delivery. They found a higher risk of stillbirths occurred before delivery in people with class I and II obesity.

What Are Stillbirths?

According to WHO, a baby who dies after 28 weeks of pregnancy, but before or during birth, is classified as a stillbirth. Experiencing a stillbirth during pregnancy or childbirth is a 'tragedy' that is 'insufficiently addressed' in global agendas, policies and funded programmes. There are psychological costs to women, their families, such as maternal depression, financial consequences and economic repercussions, as well as stigma and taboo, it states.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states stillbirth is classified as either early, late, or term.

• An early stillbirth is a fetal death occurring between 20 and 27 completed weeks of pregnancy.
• A late stillbirth occurs between 28 and 36 completed pregnancy weeks.
• A term stillbirth occurs between 37 or more completed pregnancy weeks.