Maternal Obesity and its Impact on Neonatal Morbidity

Abstract

Maternal obesity has long been perceived as a risk factor of neonatal morbidity and mortality. Neonatal morbidity is defined as any adverse outcome in the first four weeks of an infant’s life. Outcome measures often include events such as: birth injury, low Apgar scores, respiratory distress syndrome, bacterial sepsis, hypoglycemia, neonatal seizures, NICU admissions, and even neonatal death in their analysis. The lack of standardization of outcomes, however, has made it challenging to compare any neonatal morbidity studies, recognize trends, and identify solutions to improve neonatal morbidity outcomes.