The trend of BMI(Body Mass Index)in pregnant women delivering in a tertiary hospital in South India and the pregnancy outcomes in the different BMI groups

Introduction-Published data showed that India has a problem of dual malnutrition with obesity on the rising trend inspite of many being underweight.Few data is available on the pregnancy outcome in the different BMI(Body Mass Index) groups.The aim of this research is to study the trend of BMI in pregnant women delivering in CMC Vellore and to assess the pregnancy outcome in the different BMI groups. Methods- Primigravidas with a documented BMI at less than15 weeks gestation or who had a documented prepregnancy weight and received prenatal care at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology,Christian Medical College,Vellore,Tamil Nadu,India,were enrolled in the present study between June 2011 and November 2011.Approval by the Institutional Review Board was obtained.The antenatal and labour record of the eligible women were screened after a written informed consent.The BMI(body mass index) was recorded and the pregnancy outcome in the different BMI groups was noted. Maternal age was compared across the 4 BMI groups using the Fisher exact and chi-square tests.Descriptive statistics was used to analyse the pregnancy outcome in the different BMI groups.Results- Of the 86 women enrolled, 25(29.1percent) were underweight, 37(43.0 percent) were of normal weight,12(14.0 percent) were overweight and 12(14.0 percent) were obese.Gestational diabetes was seen in 25percent each of obese and overweight women whereas only 8 of the 37 normal weight women(21.6percent) developed gestational diabetes.Induced labor was also common in the obese and overweight group compared to the normal weight women-75 percent and 51.4 percent respectively.Caesarean delivery was more in the obese group(33.3percent) and less common in the other BMI groups.5 out of 25 women(20percent) in the underweight group had low birth weight babies. Conclusion- Pregnancy complications were noted in the obese,overweight and underweight BMI groups, but the risk ratio cannot be calculated due to a small sample size.A larger study is required to study the pregnancy outcome in the different BMI groups.