Due to a rise in the number of obese pregnant women over the last 20 years, 100,000 babies every year are at risk of being born with defects, health problems and are also at risk of death. The study published in the International Journal of Obesity reveals that an unbelievable 1 in 6 women are deemed clinically obese when they conceive a child. The study was the first long-term study carried out on obesity and pregnancy and the data was gathered from 38 hospitals and included 600,000 women who gave birth.
Other research shows that half of maternal deaths are associated with obesity and related illnesses. One of the authors of the report suggested that women simply do not know the risk they put themselves and their babies at by getting pregnant and being so overweight. Half of these women will have a Caesarean section.
Furthermore, the problem is costing the NHS dear. For example, a hospital in Gateshead is purchasing an operating table that can withstand forty stone in addition to strengthened beds capable of holding the weight of obese pregnant women but the cost is secondary to the serious health risk associated with obesity and pregnancy.