Obesity as a predictor of adverse maternal outcomes among pregnant women of a rural community

Background: obese pregnant ladies are at increased risk of adverse maternal outcomes which leads to preeclampsia,preterm births,gestational age and cesarean section deliveries. aim: to determine maternal outcomes of pregnancy among women having increased body mass index. methods: a total of 150 women fulfilling inclusion and exclusion criteria of the study were enrolled in this research study. informed consent for the participation was taken from each patient. all the relevant information and data were noted on pre-designed proforma. data were entered and analyzed using spss-17. results: a total of 150 pregnant ladies were enrolled in this study. mean ages of these study cases were 30.47±4.18 years. mean parity of these study cases was 3.31±1.15. mean bmi values of these study cases were 29.97±2.91 kg/m2. maximum no. of study cases were from age groups 25-35 years i.e.,115(76.66%). frequency of preterm births was 50(33.33%). majority of our study cases i.e.,95(63.3%) had bmi in the range of 26-30 kg/m2.very high frequencies 65(43.3%) of pre-eclampsia were observed while gestational diabetes mellitus was seen in 32(21.3%) of the study cases and post partum haemorrhage was noted in 70 (46.7%). conclusion: our study results have indicated that obesity in pregnant women is linked to an increased risk of gestational diabetes,pph,higher rates of c. section deliveries and pre-eclampsia. obesity is significantly related with complications related to the mother and fetus. well directed interventions regarding weight loss and avoidance to excessive weight gains during pregnancy prior to preconception period.