Pregnant women getting heavier, Belgian study says

Jun 5, 2006, 3:16 GMT

Prague - An extensive study of pregnant European women and weight gain has raised a red flag over the growing problem of obesity among mothers-to-be.

The study based on health records for more than 24,400 women who received care at a Belgian hospital found that the average pregnant woman was 1.4 kilos heavier in 2002 than in 1993.

This extra weight had nothing to do with the unborn babies, as no differences were found in the average weight of the placenta or baby after birth, reported Dr. Roland Devlieger and his colleagues from the University Hospital of Leuven, Belgium.

Moreover, the study found that the average weight among the women before conception rose 2.8 kilos over the 10-year period.

Devlieger's team launched the investigation to document one example of the unhealthy trend toward obesity in many lands.

The condition is especially dangerous for overweight pregnant women who are at risk of hypertension and delivery problems, and can even lose their babies.

'Our study shows an important increase in body weight and weight gain during pregnancy that cannot be explained by an increase in (the baby's) length, fetal or placental weight,' said the study, which was released at the European Congress of Perinatal and Neonatal Medicine recently in Prague.

Based on the findings, the researchers recommended that obstetricians become more aware of the problem of obesity among pregnant women.