OBJECTIVE:

Primary: to compare the differences in the route of birth (cesarean section, instrumental or euthyroid delivery) between pregnant women with BMI ≥ 25 and less than 25. Secondary: to compare the different gestational and puerperal complications in pregnant women with BMI ≥ 25 and less than 25.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

Analytical, longitudinal, observational, cohort and retrospective study performed in patients attended between December 2010 and December 2015 at the Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Madrid, Spain. Study parameters: natural or assisted conception, gestational diabetes, gestational hypertensive disease and hypothyroidism, fetal weight and weeks of pregnancy at termination, induction and its causes, route of delivery and puerperal complications.

RESULTS:

We studied 642 pregnant women with age limits of 13 and 45 years, mean 32 years. The risk of cesarean section was 1.6 times higher in pregnant women with BMI ≥ 25. This group had twice as many gestational diabetes and macrosomic fetuses and three times more gestational hypertension than pregnant women with normal BMI. Labor inductions and puerperium complications had a higher trend in higher BMIs, with no statistically significant differences.

CONCLUSIONS:

A higher incidence of cesarean section, diabetes, gestational hypertension and macrosomic fetuses was found in patients who started pregnancy overweight or obese compared to those with normal weight. The outcomes obtained justify the importance of an intervention in these cases to recommend adequate nutritional habits and an active lifestyle to achieve a healthy weight prior to pregnancy.