Effect of Obesity on Length of Labor in Nulliparous Women

Nov 23, 2011American journal of perinatology

How Obesity Affects Labor Duration in First-Time Mothers

AI simplified

Circadian Biology on OpenScience ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Abstract

During a 15-month study, 375 nulliparous women were included, with 38% classified as obese.

Obese women experienced a longer duration of the first stage of labor, averaging 26.76 hours compared to 23.87 hours for normal-weight women.
No significant difference in labor duration was found between normal-weight and overweight women, or between overweight and obese women.
The cesarean delivery rate was highest among obese women at 47%, compared to 24% for normal-weight women.
Obese nulliparous women had a reduced likelihood of completing the first stage of labor compared to those with a BMI less than 24 kg/m², with a hazard ratio of 0.73.
The longer duration of the first stage of labor in obese women persists even after adjusting for age, hypertension, and induction.

AI simplified

We compared the duration of labor among nulliparous women with varying body mass index (BMI). Laboring nulliparous women at >37 weeks were included. First visit BMI was used to categorize weight as normal (≤24), overweight (25 to 29.9), or obese (≥30 kg/m(2)). Chi-square, one-way analysis of variance, and Bonferroni multiple comparisons tests were used. During 15 months, 375 women met the inclusion criteria, and 38% were obese. Duration of first stage of labor was significantly longer for obese versus normal-weight women (26.76 ± 0.77 versus 23.87 ± 0.66 hours; p = 0.024) but not between normal versus overweight women (p = 1.00) or overweight versus obese women (p = 0.114). The cesarean delivery rate was significantly different in the three groups (p = 0.0001), highest among obese (47%) and lowest in normal-weight women (24%). When adjusted for age, hypertension, and induction, the likelihood of completing stage I was significantly less among obese nulliparous than those with BMI < 24 kg/m(2) (hazard ratio 0.73, 95% confidence intervals 0.54, 0.99). Compared with those with BMI < 24, the duration of stage I is significantly longer among obese women, even when adjusted for maternal age, induction, and hypertension.

Full Text

Full text is available at the source.

View full text ↗

Effect of Obesity on Length of Labor in Nulliparous Women

Abstract

Full Text

You found one interesting study. We’ll send the next 7.

what lands in your inbox each week:

Recent issues from the circadian biology brief