Maternal and perinatal outcome in obese pregnant women in labour ward

Background and objective: Maternal obesity refers to a women obesity during pregnancy, it carries an increased risk of complications during pregnancy and childbirth. This study's major goal was to compare the maternal and perinatal outcomes of obese women to those of women with normal BMI. Methods: A case control study was conducted on 400 delivering women, 200 of them obese women (case) and 200 will be pregnant women with normal BMI (control) at Maternity Teaching Hospital, Erbil city, Kurdistan Region, Iraq between 1st April 2021 to 1st April 2022 were recruited. Data were analyzed using the SPSS, version 25, to test statistical significance. Results: No significant differences were detected between obese and normal weight women regarding the following maternal outcomes: mode of delivery (P = 0.874), medical complications (P = 0.182), and complications during pregnancy (P >0.05). 39.5% of the normal weight women needed induction compared with 22% of the obese women (P <0.001). The rate for augmentation of labor was 50% among obese women compared with 19% among the women with normal weight (P <0.001). Incidence of postpartum hemorrhage was 33% among women of normal weight and 22.5% among those who were obese (P = 0.019). The commonest neonatal bad outcome was macrosomia baby (16.3%). It occurred in 19% of the neonates of the obese women and in 13.5% of the neonates of women with normal weight (P = 0.080). The rate of admission to the NICU was 38.3% in the whole sample (41% in the obese and 35.5% in the group of normal weight). Conclusion: Pregnant women who were obese had a higher risk of delivery difficulties and neonatal intensive care unit hospitalization. Keywords: Obesity; Pregnancy; Macrosomia; Induction of labour.