Effects of gestational weight gain in morbidly obese women: I. Maternal morbidity.

Current recommendations for appropriate weight gain in pregnancy suggest an optimum of 120% of ideal body weight (IBW) at delivery. This represents an increase of approximately 24 pounds in the normal weight woman and even the obese patient (more than 135% IBW) is told to gain 16 pounds. Information concerning gestational weight gain in the morbidly obese woman (more than 160% IBW) has not been reported. We evaluated 40 morbidly obese pregnant women for maternal morbidity relative to gestational weight gain. No correlation was found between maternal weight gain and the development of gestational diabetes, pregnancy-induced hypertension, preeclampsia, preterm labor, premature rupture of membranes, incompetent cervix, or intrauterine growth retardation. The incidence of primary cesarean delivery was statistically greater in those women gaining more than 24 pounds (p less than 0.05). It appears that current recommendations for gestational weight gain in the morbidly obese are excessive and may result in increased maternal risk.