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The impact of obesity on spontaneous and medically indicated preterm birth among adolescent mothers

  • Materno-fetal Medicine
  • Published:
Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

We sought to evaluate the impact of obesity on the risk of spontaneous and medically indicated preterm birth in young women compared to adult women.

Methods

Florida vital records from 2004 to 2007 were used to obtain data. The study sample consisted of 290,807 mothers of whom 4,739 were adolescent girls ≤15 years old: 23,228 were girls 16–17 years old; 58,196 were women 18–19 years old; and 204,644 were women 20–24 years old. Adjusted estimates for spontaneous and medically indicated preterm birth were determined based on maternal BMI and weight gain during pregnancy. Subjects were categorized by BMI as follows: class I obesity (30.0 ≤ BMI ≤ 34.9), class II obesity (35.0 ≤ BMI ≤ 39.9), class III obesity (40 ≤ BMI ≤ 49.9), and super-obese (BMI ≥ 50.0).

Results

Obese mothers had elevated risk for medically indicated preterm birth and lower risk for spontaneous preterm birth compared to non-obese mothers. Overall, the risk for spontaneous preterm birth increased in a dose-dependent fashion with younger age but no age-dependent trend was observed for medically indicated preterm birth (P < 0.0001). Very low weight gain (<0.12 kg/week) during pregnancy was associated with a higher risk of spontaneous preterm birth among both non-obese and obese teenagers.

Conclusions

Preterm birth is a heterogeneous entity that is mediated by obesity status and maternal age. Obesity among pregnant teenagers increases the risk for medically indicated preterm birth but not the risk for spontaneous preterm birth.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grant #P0126278 from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. The funding agency did not play any role in any aspect of the analyses. We thank the Florida Department of Health for providing the data used in this study. This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the University of South Florida.

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Research and Evaluation, The Lawton and Rhea Chiles Center for Healthy Mothers and Babies, University of South Florida, 3111 E. Fletcher Avenue, Tampa, FL, 33613, USA

    Hamisu M. Salihu & Phillip J. Marty

  2. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA

    Hamisu M. Salihu & Sabrina Luke

  3. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA

    Hamisu M. Salihu

  4. Department of Community and Family Health, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA

    Amina P. Alio

  5. Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA

    Aaron Deutsch

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  1. Hamisu M. Salihu
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  2. Sabrina Luke
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  3. Amina P. Alio
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  4. Aaron Deutsch
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  5. Phillip J. Marty
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Correspondence to Hamisu M. Salihu.

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Salihu, H.M., Luke, S., Alio, A.P. et al. The impact of obesity on spontaneous and medically indicated preterm birth among adolescent mothers. Arch Gynecol Obstet 282, 127–134 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-009-1213-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-009-1213-y

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