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  Vol. 161 No. 8, August 2007 TABLE OF CONTENTS
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Prepregnancy Obesity as a Risk Factor for Structural Birth Defects

D. Kim Waller, PhD; Gary M. Shaw, DrPH; Sonja A. Rasmussen, MD, MS; Charlotte A. Hobbs, MD, PhD; Mark A. Canfield, PhD; Anna-Maria Siega-Riz, PhD; M. Shayne Gallaway, MPH; Adolfo Correa, MD, MPH, PhD; for the National Birth Defects Prevention Study

Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2007;161(8):745-750.

Objective  To describe the relation between maternal obesity, overweight and underweight status, and 16 categories of structural birth defects.

Design  An ongoing multisite, case-control study. Clinical geneticists reviewed all of the cases, excluding those that had or were strongly suspected to have a single-gene disorder or chromosomal abnormality. Mothers with preexisting diabetes were also excluded. Body mass index was based on maternal report of height and weight prior to pregnancy.

Setting  Eight participating states in the United States.

Participants  Mothers enrolled in the National Birth Defects Prevention Study who had index pregnancies between October 1, 1997, and December 31, 2002.

Main Exposure  Maternal obesity.

Main Outcome Measures  Crude and adjusted odds ratios.

Results  Mothers of offspring with spina bifida, heart defects, anorectal atresia, hypospadias, limb reduction defects, diaphragmatic hernia, and omphalocele were significantly more likely to be obese than mothers of controls, with odds ratios ranging between 1.33 and 2.10. Mothers of offspring with gastroschisis were significantly less likely to be obese than mothers of controls.

Conclusions  To our knowledge, this is the first population-based study of its scale to examine prepregnancy obesity and a range of structural birth defects. These results suggest a weak to moderate positive association of maternal obesity with 7 of 16 categories of birth defects and a strong inverse association with gastroschisis. The mechanisms underlying these associations are not yet understood but may be related to undiagnosed diabetes.


Author Affiliations: School of Public Health, Houston Health Science Center, University of Texas, Houston (Dr Waller and Mr Gallaway); March of Dimes, California Birth Defects Monitoring Program, Berkeley (Dr Shaw); National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia (Drs Rasmussen and Correa); College of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Arkansas Children's Hospital Research Institute, Little Rock (Dr Hobbs); Birth Defects Epidemiology and Surveillance Branch, Texas Department of State Health Services, Austin (Dr Canfield); and Departments of Nutrition and Epidemiology, University of North Carolina School of Public Health, Chapel Hill (Dr Siega-Riz).



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