A comparison of complications of pregnancy and delivery in morbidly obese and non-obese women.

Morbid obesity in pregnancy is a growing problem and is having an impact on morbidity, mortality as well as significantly increasing antenatal and intra-partum costs of pregnancy care. The incidence of morbid obesity in pregnancy in our unit was 7.5% during the study period and this was associated with statistically significant increased maternal and perinatal morbidity. It also led to increased costs because of multidisciplinary management of the pregnancies, increased investigations and hospital stay when compared with normal weight pregnant women. Looking after morbidly obese pregnant women is an expensive undertaking, as the cost of the care of one morbidly obese pregnant woman and her baby is several times that of the normal weight woman. Health planners need to factor in these costs which are set to escalate given the predicted increase in the obese population in the UK.