Babies of overweight and obese mothers are more likely to have oxygen-deprivation problems at birth, reports [s]Reuters Health[/s]. Lead author Martina Persson at the [b]Karolinska Institute[/b] in Stockholm said newborn’s risk of seizures also increased with maternal weight. Researchers don’t know why these risks, which all relate to lack of oxygen, go up for babies of overweight and obese women, Persson said. Obesity in pregnant women has been associated with metabolic changes and inflammation, which could affect the placenta and foetal environment in a way that leads to low oxygen levels and more foetal growth, she noted. However, Persson noted: ‘One must bear in mind that even though these conditions are potentially very dangerous for the baby, the absolute risks for the studied outcomes are low.’ Even with the most obese mothers, the risk of infants having a low Apgar score at five minutes was still only 0.24%.
[link url=http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/20/us-pregnancy-obesity-oxygen-idUSKBN0E024120140520]Full Reuters Health report[/link]
[link url=http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1001648]PLOS Medicine abstract[/link]