We have talked on many occasions about the importance of maintaining an adequate weight during pregnancy to prevent complications in both the mother and the baby, and a new study confirms that obesity can cause birth defects in the baby. In this case, it is stated that Obesity during pregnancy doubles the risk of spina bifida, along with other defects.
The research has been carried out through review and analysis of previous studies to assess the relationship between overweight and obesity in mothers and the risk of congenital anomaly in newborns.
According to the researchers, women who were obese at the beginning of pregnancy showed an increased risk of neural tube defect such as spina bifida. Also of cardiovascular anomaly, split palate and cleft lip.
In addition they could suffer abnormalities in the rectum, hydrocephalus or abnormal enlargement of the ventricles of the brain (due to an accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid) and also an abnormal reduction of the limbs.
Only one risk seems to be reduced, that of abdominal wall defect or gastroschisis.
This meta-study, entitled "Maternal Overweight and Obesity and the Risk of Congenital Anomalies" has been performed at the University of Newcastle (United Kingdom) and is published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
