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Kaye Bailey

Obese and morbidly obese women are more likely to have pregnancy complications and caesarean sections than women of average weight, according to a study published in the April 2004 American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. The controlled study is one of the largest ever to look at obesity in pregnancy, following more than 16,000 pregnant women at 14 medical centers across the country.

Compared with women of normal weight, obese and morbidly obese pregnant women were at greater risk for gestational hypertension, preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, fetal birth weight greater than 4,000 grams, and fetal birth weight greater than 4,500 grams, the study finds.

Morbidly obese women who undergo gastric bypass weight loss surgery and lose weight report a higher rate of normal births and healthy deliveries if they lose weight prior to becoming pregnant.

In a study by Dr. Alan C. Wittgrove, past president of the American Society of Bariatric Surgery and pioneer of the laparoscopic technique, post-gastric bypass pregnancy indicates fewer risks than commonly reported by women who are obese during pregnancy. His study was conducted with nurse-practitioner Leslie Jester who had a low-risk pregnancy and delivered a healthy baby after gastric bypass surgery.

The Wittgrove Center has an active patient list of over 2000 people. The patients are informed to contact the Center when they become pregnant. In the study 41 women in the patient population became pregnant. Using personal interview, questionnaire, and review of perinatal records, pregnancy-related risks and complications were studied.

The study found less risk of gestational diabetes, macrosomia, and cesarean section than associated with obesity. There were no patients with clinically significant anemia.

Kaye Bailey © 2005 - All Rights Reserved

An award winning journalist and former newspaper editor Kaye Bailey brings expertise in writing and personal experience with gastric bypass surgery to EzineArticles.com. Having spent most of her life overweight Ms. Bailey is strongly empathetic toward the obese, particularly overweight children. This compassion compelled her to found the website http://www.livingafterwls.com, a fast-growing resource of information, understanding and support for the weight loss surgery community.

The LivingAfterWLS.com site is complimented with daily blog. The blog, http://livingafterwls.blogspot.com offers readers the chance to comment or leave feedback about fresh content added daily. This site contains success stories and recipes, general information and WLS inspired topics. Complementing the site is a monthly newsletter titled “You Have Arrived” available exclusively to people who subscribe through the website or the blog.

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A Quick Note From The Publisher... If you like the article above, you may be interested in the following article which is also related to Gastric Bypass... Gastric Bypass Surgery - Do You Know The Risks? Ten years ago approximately 20,000 weight-loss operations were performed in the United States every year. Today that figure is expected to reach an unbelievable 200,000. Today about two thirds of the population of the US is overweight, with about thirty percent of these people being clinically obese. Additionally, a staggering nine million adults are more than 100 pounds overweight and are classed as morbidly obese. For these people the traditional remedy of diet combined with exercise simply doesn't work and they are turning more and more towards gastric bypass surgery. The commonest form of gastric bypass surgery today is a procedure known as Roux-en-Y which creates a stomach pouch, using a section of the stomach itself, that is then linked to the small intestine, bypassing a large part of both the stomach and the duodenum. the procedure to hold large quantities of food but, by bypassing the duodenum, fat absorption is also considerably reduced. The increasing popularity...