'Obesity must be avoided in pregnant women'
Posted on Monday, 9th November 2009
Obesity in pregnant women is fast emerging as major threat for successful deliveries and the changing life style is likely to compound
the problem in future, says Dr Reena Srivastava of BRD Medical College, Gorakhpur, while delivering Dr Meena Mukherji oration on the concluding day of the three-day 21st annual conference of UP chapter of Federation of Obstetrics and Gynaecological Society of India (FOGSI) in Banaras Hindu University on Sunday.
"Traditionally, the Indian women carry excess total body fat (truncal obesity) and more cases of abdominal obesity are pouring from urban areas and metropolitan cities, she said on the occasion. A high percentage of urban as well as rural women have greater body mass index (BMI) and it makes the antenatal and delivery services even more difficult," she added.
"Ideally, the waist to hip ratio should not be more than 0.9 in pregnant women, but high number of overweight and obese pregnant women, especially from the urban areas, are coming to us, enough to raise concern," she said. "It is mostly related to wrong choice of food and improper diet during pregnancy. Similarly, sedentary life style and restricted activities also aggravate the problems during pregnancy," she added, while referring to recent studies and surveys on Indian pregnant women.
Stressing that a number of risk factors including diabetes, hypertension, cardio-vascular diseases, respiratory problems and haemorrhage were associated with obese women, she also emphasised that complications such as more blood loss and prolonged labour pain pose challenge to gynaecologists.