Introduction

Obesity is the most common medical problem affecting reproductive-age women. To detect the prevalence of obesity, and bariatric surgeries (BSs) in reproductive-age women, and the impact of obesity vs. BSs on the subsequent pregnancy outcomes.

Material and methods

Obese-pregnant women, and women underwent BSs before the current pregnancy, with complete antenatal, and delivery records were included in the current study. Collected data were analyzed using MedCalc 20.106 to calculate the odd ratio (OR), and relative risk (RR) of adverse maternal, and fetal outcomes in relation to maternal obesity vs. BSs.

Results

Data of 14,474 pregnant women were collected during this study; 33.94% (4912/14474) of them were obese, and 3.8% (546/14474) of them had previous BSs before the current pregnancy. The obese group has significantly higher odds, and RR of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) [OR 1.9 (p = 0.0001), and RR 1.79 (p = 0.0001)], gestational hypertension [OR 1.7 (p = 0.0002), and RR 1.6 (p = 0.0003)], and preeclampsia (PE) [OR 1.7 (p = 0.0001), and RR 1.6 (p = 0.0001)] compared to BSs group. The obese group has also significantly higher odds, and RR of cesarean sections (CSs) [OR 1.3 (p = 0.008), and RR 1.25 (p = 0.01)], and large for gestational age [OR 1.39 (p = 0.01), and RR 1.3 (p = 0.02)] compared to BSs group.

Conclusions

About 33.94% of the reproductive-age women in Kuwait are obese, and 3.8% of them had previous BSs. Obese-pregnant women are at increased risks of GDM, gestational hypertension, PE, and CSs. Bariatric surgeries reduced the rates of GDM, gestational hypertension, PE, and CSs significantly.